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HISTOEICAL 

NOTES ON WALLINGTON; 

OF WHICH THE SUBSTANCE WAS GIVEN IN 

A LECTURE AT WALLINGTON SCHOOLS IN 1870 ; WITH 

ADDITIONS TO THE PRESENT TIME. 



BY 



THE REV. JOHN WILLIAMS, M.A,, 

VICAR OF HOLY TRINITY, WALLINGTON, 
SURREY. 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. 



' Ex fume dare lucem." — 

E.or. de Arte Poet. 



LONDON : 
W, MACKINTOSH, 24, PATERNOSTER ROW, 

WALLINGTON : 
W. PILE, 5, DANBURY TERRACE. 



U13 



CROYDON : 

PRINTED BY E. L. CORKER, 

WHITGIFT STREET. 



5^6-^ 



'OZ 






PREFACE. 



The origin of this compilation appears on the Title-page. 
Indulging a natural curiosity as to the past in the history 
of his Parish, the compiler collected notes, to divert some 
of his less busy hours. The County Histories supplied 
abundant material. Then arose the idea of a Lecture on 
the subject, in the Parish Schoolroom, at our Winter 
Evening Entertainments. . Therefore to the enumeration of 
individuals and families, comments were added to ekicidate 
the cotemporary events, in which some of those connected 
with Wallington played a part. What then might- appear 
to some only digressions, had for their object the supplying 
of that necessary information which the generality have no 
opportunity to acquire; while it was hoped that thus 
would be enlarged the sympathy which each should feel as 
a unit of the great Commonwealth. The Lecture, however, 
furnished entertainment for one evening. But when " My 
Garden," with its charming illustrations, had seen the 
light, there arose a desire to know more of Wallington. 
And so the Lecture recurred to our enterprising Bookseller. 



11. PREFACE. 

The original material lias been re-written for his use, 
retaining its first characters, only more fully given. Many 
kind friends, whose names jnight occupy some pages, have 
aided ; and a visit to the British Museum has helped to fill 
some gaps in the story. 

The pressure of Parish work under somewhat exceptional 
circumstances will, it is hoped, be some excuse for 
deficiencies. 

Such as it is, the Parishioners of Holy Trinity, Walling-v 
ton, will accept it, as it was always intended for their 
'^ entertainment,''^ by their sincere friend and Pastor, 

J. WILLIAMS. 
March, 1873. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 



** Historical Notes on Wallington " should not allow any- 
great indulgence of fancy. They- should not allow us to 
be tempted to plunge into motlier earth, and seek geological 
treasures, however sure that our search will be rewarded. 
And so we pass by palaeontology, zoology, conchology, &c. 
Nor should we feel at liberty to indulge in reveries as to 
the Stone age of the world's inhabitants — before the days of 
Tubal-cain and artificers in brass and iron, (Gen. iv. 22) ? — - 
though there lacks not the temptation in the beautiful little 
Celt hatchet which our friend Mr. Jas. West (now departed) 
found only the other day ; and then again a similar imple- 
ment which Mr. Cressingham found in the field adjoining 
'^ My Garden," and which Mr. Smee has figured in his 
book (p. 2). Nor should the thought of Dr. Strong's 
'' bronze Celts recently excavated at Beddington " lead us 
astray. For we must beware of exciting any envious 
feelings in the breasts of our Welsh cousins with their 
Celtic Pedigree, and its Historical Notes — " about this 
time Noah was born " — not quite at the top of the Tree. 

But what can we do when a friend begs us to notice the 
^' Hut-circles" — traces of the dwellings of our forefathers 
long, long ago? These are " peculiar circular hollows, like 
'' inverted conea having sloping sides narrowing to a point 



"Z HISTORICAL NOTES 

*• at the extremity, and upon these, most probably, ledges of 
*^ earth were formed to be used as seats or sleeping places. 
'^ The pit was covered over by long poles laid sloping from 
^Hhe sides and meeting in a point overhead in the centre, 
'^ and coated with rough boughs and turf to exclude the 
'' wet and cold, as the hop-pickers in Kent might shelter 
" themselves in their season, or the charcoal-burners among 
" the Surrey and Sussex hills. Traces of Hut-circles are to 
'^ be seen in the fields S.E. of Woodcote ; more especially 
^^very distinct traces of one to the N.E. of Wallington 
" Manor House, just to the left of the footpath by the Paper 
" Mill from Wallington Bridge to the Beddington and 
'^ Croydon Road " (the very spot where Mr. Cressingham's 
Celt should have been found), ^^ there appears to have been 
" a rampart — ^with the peculiarity of having been square on 
^' plan — around this ; and the southern slope of the bank, 
/' which is crossed by the footpath, is very distinct. 

"There appears to have been another to the S.W. of 
" Wallington Church, close to the roadway to the station, 
" but a rough unshapely hollow in the lavender field, only, 
" remains. The form of this has been much altered." 

So our many temptations are apparent. Yet we • must 
' forbear. For we shall have to draw somewhat on the 
forbearance of our friends when we treat of the site of the 
ancient " Noviomagus " supposed to be in our Parish. But 
we will be cautious even with the Roman historians, lest 
some Wallington Edie Ochiltree rise up and cry, as the 
original did to Mr. Oldbuck, " Prsetorium here, praetorium 
there — I mind the biggin o't." 

'' Historical Notes " in reference to any part of England 
cannot commence before the year ^.c. 55, when the ambition 



ON WALLINGTON. 6 

of the Roman general, Julius C^sar, led him to invade 
Britain. After having been somewhat roughly handled, he 
returned to Gaul ; and, in the following year, with a force 
of 32,000 men, he landed somewhere near Sandwich. He 
first came in contact with the British forces at or near the 
spot where the city of Canterbury now stands. Thence he 
penetrated through Kent and a part of Surrey, not im- 
probably passing through our parish, and crossed the 
Thames at Coway Stakes, near Chertsey. Roman discipline 
soon prevailed over a disunited people ; but Caesar was glad 
to accede to overtures for peace, and to return to Gaul 
It was not till about a.d. 84 that the Roman dominion in 
Britain was consolidated under Agricola, and by that' time 
the Island had attracted attention from the more civilized 
parts of the world. The Romans had introduced their 
raanners and laws ; a strong body of troops maintained the 
occupation of the country; and, between the different 
districts, solidly-made roads afforded proper means of com- 
munication. Britain formed an essential part of the Roman 
Empire. 

It is supposed that at this period the town of NoGOmagllS 
(or ^oviomagus) occupied the southern portion of our 
parish. A town of this name is mentioned by the geogra- 
pher Ptolemy ; and a similar name '^ Noviomagus " occurs 
in the Antonine Itinerary. Ptolemy lived at Alexandria, in 
Egypt, about 130 a.d. To him is referred the Ptolemaic 
system of astronomy which made the earth the centre of 
our universe — a system, which though false in fact and 
absurd in theory, was maintained for 1400 years; till 
Nicholas Copernicus, of Thorn, in Polish Prussia, discovered 
the system which goes by his name, and of which the truth 
b2 



HISTORICAL NOTES 



has been fully establislied by Kepler, Galileo and Newton. 
The industry of Ptolemy collected much valuable informa- 
tion, though some of his statements are incorrect. What 
is interesting to us we find stated in his geography of 
Britain : " again to the south of the Atrebatii and Cantii 
lie the Regni and the city of NoeomagUS. Long. 19° 45" 
Lat. 53° 25"." (See Appendix A.) Doubtless Ptolemy had 
never visited Britain, and obtained his information from 
others. So, perhaps, the only reliable fact is that this 
town was among the people called Regni, who occupied the 
present counties of Surrey and Sussex. Chichester was 
called K-egnum by the Bomans. 

The Antonine Itinerary seems to have been compiled 
about A.D. 200, and supplies us with such information about 
the towns on certain routes, and the distances between them, 
as the commanders of Boman armies issued for the guidance 
of their troops on a line of march. 

Thus in Iter. II of the Antonine Itinerary the route from 
London to Bichborough (then one of the chief Boman 
stations) is thus laid down : — 

Noviomago x M.P. (Roman miles) presumed sites. 



Vagmacis xviii 






— 


Durobrivia ix 




— Rochester. 


Durolevo xvi 




— ,, 


Duroverno xii 




— Canterbury. 


ad portum Ritupis x 




— Richborough. 


ITER. III. 




Roman miles. 


a Londinio ad Portum Dubris 


Ixvi 


from London to Dover. 


Durobrivis 




xxvii 


Rochester. 


Duroverno 




XXV 


Canterbury. 


ad portum Dubris 




xiv 


Dover. 


ITER. ly. 




Roman miles. 


a Londinio ad portum 








Lemanis 




Ixviii 


from London to Lymne 


Durobrivis 




xxvii 


Rochester. 


Duroverno 




XXV 


Canterbury. 


ad portum Lemanis 




xvi 


Lymne. 



ON WALLINGTON. 5 

Then there is the Itinerary of Eichard of Cirencester 
in the 14th century, who says he compiled from ancient 
documents ; of a similar character to those from which the 
Antonine Itinerary was compiled. An interesting- publica- 
tion took place a.d. 1598 of Tables of a corresponding style, 
supposed to be of the time of Theodosius the Great, 
A.D. 379, and found among the MSS. in the library of 
Conrade Peutinger — hence called the Peutinger Tables. 

Iter I, of Richard of Cirencester, is, from Rhutupis, by the 
via Guethelinga (Watling Street), to — 

Cantiopoli quoe est Duroverno - - x M.P. 

Durosevo (Durolevo) - - - - xii „ 

Duroprovis (Durobrivis) - - - - xxiv „ 

Deinde (thence) Londinium - - xxvii ,, 

ITEE. Xy. CANTIOPOLI. 



Durolevo - xviii M.P. 
Mado - - xii „ 
Vagnaca - xviii „ 



Noviomago - xviii M.P. 
Londinio - xv „ 



ITER. XYII. 

ab Anderida - Pevensey. 

Silva Anderida - The great wood of Anderida, now " Weald " 

of Sussex. 
Noviomago - - „ 

Londinio xv „ 

What can we gather from these Tables was the site of 
Noviomagus ? or IN'ceomagus ? Comparing them with each 
other we learn a little of their relative value. 

In the Antonine Iter II, we find the distance given from 
London to Durobrivis (Bochester) to be 37 Roman miles 
passing by ^N'oviomagus. But in Iter. Ill and IV it is 27 
only, and in the Iter. I of Richard of Cirencester, the same 
distance (27 Roman miles) is given ; and in this Iter, the 
distance from Duroverno (Canterbury) to London is 63 miles 
by Durobrivis along the old Watling Street road, on which 



b HISTORICAL NOTES 

Noviomagus is not mentioned. But in Iter XV, which 
passes by Noviomagus, the distance from Canterbury to 
London is made 81 miles, and on this route Durobrivis is 
not mentioned. So here we have two Itineraries making 
Noviomagus appear out of the direct route. In the distance 
from London to Hochester it is 10 Roman miles out of the 
direct route, and in that to Canterbury, 13 miles. The. actual 
distances from London to Rochester — 30 miles — and to " 
Canterbury — 56 miles English (statute measure) — would 
make the Itineraries a good deal out in their reckonings for 
the direct routes. Again we observe a difference as to the . 
distance of Koviomagus from London : in the Antonine 
Itinerary it is X, M.P., but in that of Rd. of Cirencester it 
is XV, M.P. ; very different routes from the Antonine. 

Ought we not to conclude that the distances given are 
only approximate? not exact? and that we can wholly 
depend on neither, when both are proved to be wrong ? — 
proved, because we can certainly identify some sites, such 
as Rochester and Canterbury — and correct the distances 
given — ^but how shall we deal with the uncertain ; as 
I^oviomagus ? 

We will endeavour to view the question in another light. 
We will see if the generally acknowledged traces of Roman 
Eoads in our neighbourhood will help our enquiry. • Traces 
are found of a Roman Road first from Chichester — which 
in part of its course is called Stane Street. It passes by 
•Billinghurst, in Sussex; then by Anstiehury Camp, near 
Dorking; then by the back of Woodcote Warren, in 
Epsom, and leaving Burgh or Barrow, in Banstead, on the 
right, goes to Streatham. This road must have passed 
through our parish. 



ON WALLINGTON. 7 

We will take another road from Portus Adurni (Shoreham) 
traced in the " Gentleman's Magazine" for July, 178i, across 
Sussex into Surrey. A third from the Portus Anderida 
(Pevenset), according to Mr. Leman, coincided with the 
preceding after passing into Surrey ; and these two fall 
into 2i fourth road from Portus ^N^ovus (Newhaven), passing 
by Lindfield and E. Grinstead, in Sussex, New Chapel, in 
the parish of Godstone ; over Tilbuster Hill ; through 
Blechingley, Chaldon and Coulsdon to Streatham. It was 
directly on this route that the late Mr. Jas. West saw 
Roman bricks found ; and '' a paved causeioay,'' when ^ome 
labourers were grubbing a coppice on Mrs. Gee's land ; by 
the road passing from Farthing Down and Russell Hill to 
Bandon Hill — Roman buildings as well as a road thus 
indicated. 

And yet another fifth road we must allude to as mentioned 
in Camden (quoting from Higden of Chester), "a consular 
way of the Romans which- formerly went from Dover 
through the middle of Kent." Camden would make Maid- 
stone the site of Yagnaca, so called from the river Vaga 
(Medway), called in the Peutegerian Tables Madus, And 
still further it is suggested by Bray, that there was a line 
of road (Roman) through ^ewdigate, Rey^a^e, Gateton, 
Chipstead, and Leaden Cross. 

Surely all these roads pointing to and converging in or 
about the Southern part of our Parish would prove it to be 
an important position in the times of the Romans in England. 

Confirmation of this idea may be found in the numerous 
relics brought to light from time to time. In Salmon's 
History of Surrey (a.d. 1736) mention is made of "Barrows 
"or small mounds (on the rising ground above Barrow- 



8 HISTORICAL NOTES 

*' Hedges), called in that day Gaily Hills, whicli means 
" DeviVs mounds. About Woodcote were considerable traces 
"of buildings; axes and spear-beads bad been continually 
" found in the fields ; and many old wells," (wbicb remain 
to this day of 1872). The present proprietor of Woodcote 
mentions a peculiar large ivory ball found there, but which 
was unfortunately stolen ; and he points to a mound in the 
ground near the House, which should be opened. 

In the neighbourhood of our Church, Roman relics have 
been frequently found in the shape of coins. In the little 
Museum at Beddington School, which Rev. Jas. Hamilton 
instituted, are some coins presented by Mr. Lee, of Walling- 
ton. Mr. Robt. Matthews has kindly lent us for inspection 
some coins which he has dug up from time to time : his, as 
well as Mr. Lee's, all found in the immediate neighbourhood 
of our Church. 

Then we have the Eoman Villa, be it large or small, 
discovered in February, 1871, on the Earm occupied by the 
Croydon Local Board of Health — between Beddington Lane 
and Hackbridge Station. The discovery was communicated 
to the Society of Antiquaries, and papers read by 
J. Addy, Esq., Stud. C.E., and E. P. Loftus Brock, Esq. 
A list of the coins appears in Appendix B, with the 
description of the Roman Villa. 

The site of this Villa would be very nearly in the direct 
line from Woodcote to Streatham. The dates of coins may 
be presumed to give a fair idea of the date of building — 
not accurately, but nearly so. And the sum total of the 
evidence from the coins would give a Roman occupation of 
the locality through, at least, one hundred and fifty years, 
dating, as they do, from A.i^. 258 to a.d. 375. One of 



ON WALLINGTON. 9 

Commodus, found near the Yilla, will date at a.d. 176. 
But of tlie British City we should scarcely expect to find 
traces if we take Caesar's description as correct (lib. y. c. 21) : 
*^ The Britons call it a Town, when they have strengthened 
" a wood by a rampart and ditch ; where they may be 
" protected from an incursion of enemies." 

But we may suppose the neighbourhood was a favourite 
resort in very early times, if we may judge from the hoard 
of Bronze implements now in the possession of Dr. Strong, 
of Croydon, found in preparing the foundations of a house 
nearly opposite the Beddington Schools — (J. W. Flower, 
Esq., F.G.S.) — " probably part of the stock-in-trade of some 
manufacturer of such implements." 

At any rate the locality, on the edge of the '^ Surrey hills," 
with an extensive prospect of the valley of the Thames, 
above London as far as Windsor ; and with rich meadows 
on the banks of the Wandle beneath, must have had an 
attraction. ISTor is it unlikely that the river received its 
distinctive name from some Vandal (Wend) soldier of for- 
tune coming to England with the Roman troops sent by 
Probus (a.d. 276) ; who, having settled down hereabouts, 
if he did not occupy the Roman Yilla at Beddington, gave 
his name to the river. Pope's '^ blue transparent Yandalis," 
and the town at its mouth, WandsioortJi — Wa^idlesoi^de of 
Domesday Book. (Bartlett's History of Wimbledon.) 
Wendel's choice was good, and after-ages still hovered 
around the spot in fixing site of the Manor House. 

However, the Anglo-Saxons showed their taste in fixing 
their residences hereabouts ; amid the varied scenery of 
hill and dale, beautiful woods and water, arable and pasture 
land. We have an Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Farthing 



10 . HISTORICAL NOTES 

Down, in Coulsdon, explored by Mr. Flower; an Anglo- 
Saxon Cemetery in the same field with the Roman Yilla, 
which Mr. Addj and Mr. Smee explored, and in the Yilla 
itself a Saxon penny was found. All these discoveries are 
chronicled in the Surrey Archaeological Society's sixth 
volume. And in the publications of the British Archaeo- 
logical Association, Mr. Brock relates, that in digging 
foundations for the houses, about three feet below the 
surface, there were found, alongside the ^^ Manor Road," 
six graves of the Anglo-Saxon period. When the founda- 
tions were dug for the house where Mrs. West now resides, 
sixty years ago, a skeleton in a sitting posture was found ; 
and at frequent intervals broken weapons and armour have 
been found in the land to the E. of Manor Road — precious 
relics gone ! none can tell whither. 

A curious history all these relics might teach us. And 
we may fairly gather from the notes above, as Manning 
argues : " that Woodcote was a Camp or Town, there can 
be no doubt — ^perhaps the former — and Wallington the 
Town below it. Romans at least did not place cities on an 
eminence, but camps ; and towns below." And (we add) 
the patrician Yilla was thus placed on the banks of the 
Wandle, the most favourable spot for the garden and farm 
adjoining. '^ A noble house, which stands in a choice air," 
so Walton describes Dauntsey, where George Herbert stayed 
long — it being in fact. a marshy place by the side of a river, 
as its name betokens. 

Throughout the country Romah Yillas were frequent, 
along the great roads especially. Caracalla (a.d. 211) 
imparted the rights and privileges of the Roman citizen to 
all the provinces of the Empire, and thus the Briton enjoyed 



ON WALLINGTON. 11 

his patrimony without fear of spoliation or oppression. 
But while there was peace under the Roman sway, new 
enemies were rising up. The Scandinavian and Saxon 
Pirates began to ravage the S. and S.E. coasts — some, 
indeed, had already settled there. To repress these marauders 
a Roman officer was appointed, with the title " Count of 
the Saxon shore." To this office Carausius (by. birth either 
a Belgian or Briton), was appointed, with the command of 
a strong fleet, the head- quarters of which were in the British 
Channel. He was a bold and skilful commander, but made 
himself feared and suspected by the Roman Emperors, who 
sent orders to put him to death. In answer, he gathered 
around him the sailors and soldiers who had enriched them- 
selves under his command, and by them he was proclaimed 
Emperor, which title was conceded to him at Rome, with 
the government of Britain and the adjoining coasts of 
Gaul. Under his reign Britain figured as a great naval 
power. He struck numerous medals and coins, with in- 
scriptions and devices, which show the pomp and state he 
assumed in his island empire. He was murdered a.b. 297, 
at York, by Allectiis. a Briton, who succeeded to his insular 
empire, and reigned about three years, when he was defeated 
and slain by an officer of Constantius Chlorus, to whom 
Britain fell in succession, on the resignation of Diocletian 
and Maximian. Constantino Chlorus died at York, a.d. 306^ 
and was succeeded by his son Constantine, afterwards 
called the Great (whose mother, Helena, was a British lady). 
There are few things in history more romantic than the 
account of the fortunes of Helena. The daughter of a 
British inn-keeper, who seems to have had his house on one 
of the great Roman roads in Britain, and acting in her 



12 HISTOPJCAL NOTES 

father's establisliment as hostelress (stahularia), won the 
affections of a great Roman general, who, not ashamed of 
his choice, united himself to her in hononrable marriage. 
And so the British maiden, without wealth for a dowry, 
came to be the mother of the Emperor of the world — yet, 
her greatest honour that she, with her son, were not ashamed 
to profess themselves Christians. 

The Roman power, however, was waning, and the 
removal of the capital of the empire from Rome to Con- 
stantinople had its effects on the remote provinces of Britain. 
Following an example which had become prevalent through- 
out the empire, and first set in Britain by Carausius, several 
officers set up for themselves as independent sovereigns. 
Historians of that period describe Britain as especially 
fertile in that class of productions. One of the most noted 
who raised the standard of revolt in this country was 
Maximus (a.d. 382) — probably connected with the Imperial 
family of Constantino. He was associated with Gratian, 
and on his death, he succeeded to the Empire of the West. 

A.D. 420 the Romans retired from Britain, and the 
country soon fell an easy prey into the hands of Saxon and 
Danish marauders. At first they seem to have carried only 
ruin wherever they passed. But gradually they settled 
down, and generally selected stations that had previously 
been occupied by the Romans. Thus the Roman ^' Regnum " 
was occupied under the name of CAssan-ceaster, the castrum 
(Roman camp) of Gissa (the Saxon) — Chichester, That 
our neighbourhood was extensively occupied by them, we 
have seen already. What was the fate of the ancient Town 
hereabouts is left to conjecture. But amid the contests of 
Briton, and Saxon, and Dane ; frequent in this neighbour- 



ON WALLINGTON. 13 

hood — at Wimbledon notably — it is not likely that a toivn 
at Wallington would be spared. Still the memory of such 
a place survives in the name given by the Saxons to the 
Hundred division of the County — Waletoiie ; for what 
is this but Vallum-tone — ^retaining the old Roman mark — 
'^Rampart, or camp," with the Saxon addition, "tone" or 
town ? We have in our own neighbourhood two Waltons, 
besides our own, both of which have evident traces of 
camps. Many instances might be adduced where the 
Saxons, changing the name of a place, still preserved, in its 
changed name, tokens of its previous Roman occupation. 

When the Saxons had settled down in Britain, they 
gradually introduced the customs and laws which had been 
popular with them in their ^orth- German homes. Hence 
the division of the kingdom into Counties, sub-divided into 
Hundreds, which again were sub-divided into Tithings, or 
Parishes, afterwards. The place which would give the name 
to the Hundred would, on some account or other, be the 
most notable place in the neighbourhood. Such was the 
Town in our Parish — the most noteworthy of the Waletons. 
Such was the Thorn tree on tlie HilUtop — ^where the Saxon 
Councils assembled on grand occasions — and which gave 
the name to Copthorne Hundred. 

With A.D. 1066 came the Normail invasion. Harold, 
and his brothers, and nearly all the nobility of the South, 
perished at thfe battle of Hastings. The Norman host 
spread over Surrey ; everything valuable was plundered by 
the soldiers ; what they could not carry away was com- 
mitted to the flames ; and so our Town had its misfortunes 
among the rest ! But in due time the !N'orman rule was 
established, and the Conqueror desired to have a record of 



14 HISTORICAL NOTES 

the obligations under which his subjects held their land. 
So Domesday Book was compiled. its origin may be 
thus stated : The military constitution of the Saxons having 
been 'abolished, the nation was without an army, and an 
invasion of the Danes being apprehended, a Great Council 
was held at Sarum, in which it was resolved to establish 
feudal tenures. Commissioners were appointed to obtain 
information from juries of the different Hundreds, in every 
county, of the quantity of land in all manors ; the names 
of the superior lords and sub-tenants ; and the amount of 
Danegeld paid in the reign of Edward the Confessor. The 
retm^ns were transmitted to the Exchequer at Winchester, 
and were there arranged in the Domesday Booh. On the 
opposite page there is a fair fac-simile of so much as 
concerns us in the Domesday Book, except that there are 
some red lines across the name Waleton, and the word Rex 
has a little red. - 

The extract given presents the Latin words in their 
contracted form ; here the words are given in full, and 
what is supplied is printed in italics, as given in Manning : 

" Rex tene^ in dommio Waletone. Tempore ^egis ^dioardi 
et jnodo se detendehat pro xi hid^s. Terra est xi GSLvrucata- 
rum. In dommio est una carrucata et xv viUani et xiii 
IBoTdarii cum x csirrucatis, Ibi iii servi, et ii molini de 
XXX solid/s, et viii acroe prati. Silv^ quae est in Chent. 

^' Ricardws de Tonebrige tenet de hoc manmo una?7i 
virgatam cum silva, unde abstulit rusticum qui ibi manebat, 
HiunG reddit vicecomiti x solidos per annum. Totum 
jnanerium Tempore ^egis 'Edwardi valeba^ xv libras. Modo 
X libras." 

Here, then, we are struggling into clearer light with our 



i 



ON WALLINGTON. 15 

" Historical Notes," and we can identify ourselves in the 
Domesday Book — wliicli retains tlie Saxon name of the 
Hundred. We will give a free — very free — translation of 
the above. We read : '^ The king holds Wallington in 
demesne, for his own profit." (The crown held altogether 
1422 manors — 14 in Surrey — ^which had chiefly belonged 
to the Saxon kings, Edward the Confessor, Harold, etc.) 
" In the time of Edward the Confessor and now, it has been 
rated for eleven hides." (That would be as much as eleven 
ploughs could cultivate in the year ; the measurement 
varied, probably according to the quality of the soil — some 
make a hide to be 100 acres, others 120.) ^' The arable land 
is eleven carrucates." (A carrucate was same quantity as 
a hide.) " In demesne for his own use, the lord retains one 
carrucate. There are with ten carrucates, xv villagers ; " 
(who are bound to remain with their children and eflects, 
ready to be employed in any servile work for the lord) ; 
" there also xiv Bordarii" (of less servile condition than the 
Villani, supplying the lord with poultry, eggs, &c. ; grind- 
for him, threshing, drawing wood) ; "there also three 
slaves" (of lower, condition than the Villani, wholly 
dependent on the lord's will) ; " there are two mills worth 
30s., and viii acres " (an acre was 120 square perches) " of 
meadow, besides a wood in Kent," not included in the eleven 
hides above. 

" Richard de Tonbridge holds of this manor one virgate 
(a quarter of a hide) with a wood, whence he carried off 
the villagers who used to dwell there. He now pays for 
these lands 10s. per ann. The whole manor in the time of 
King Edward was valued at xv pounds, now at x pounds." 

The shilling mentioned above was only money of account. 



16 HISTOEICAL NOTES 

There was no sucli coin then. The Saxon shilling consisted 
of fivepence ; the Domesday, of twelvepence. The libra or 
pound in money was made of 12 ora, valued at 20d. to the 
ora. Here we have something like our Duodecimal system. 
And now, not to incur the charge of being unneighbourly, 
as we shared with Beddington the glories of Celtic, British, 
Roman, and Saxon antiquity, we will share the glory of 
Domesday. 

But our publisher cannot afford more than one fac-simile, 
and it is likely most of our readers will not care for the 
Latin version, so we will give them in plain English what 
is said in Domesday about Beddington. We will premise, 
however, that though we can claim no Roman origin for 
the name, we can fairly assume that the name is of Saxon 
origin ; and Beddintone of Domesday may mean the Town 
or dwelling-place of the Bede family, as Beddingfield, in 
Suffolk, and Beddingham, in J^orfolk (so Lower) ; and as 
Mr. Flower reminds us, a name illustrious in English 
History as having been borne by the '^ Yenerable Bede." 
There were two manors. 

1. " Robert de Wateville holds of Richard [de Tonbridge] 
Beddintone, which Azor held of King Edwatd. It was 
then assessed for xxv hides ; now at iii hides. The arable 
iB^nd consists of vi carrucates. One carrucate is in demesne, 
and there are xvi villagers and xiv cottars with v carru- 
cates. There is a GhurcJi, and five slaves, and two mills 
valued at forty shillings, and 24 acres of meadow. The 
wood is sufficient for five * pigs. Fifteen houses in London 
belong to this manor, paying 12 shillings and 4 pence. 
In the time of King Edward it was valued at £10, and the 
same at present, but when received it was reckoned at £6 
only." 



ON WALLINGTON. 17 

2. " Milo Crispin holds Beddintone, and William the son 
of Turold holds it of him. Ulf held it of King Edward, 
and it was then assessed at 25 hides, now at three only. 
There are 6 carrucates of land arable, one is in demesne ; 
and 13 villagers and 13 cottagers have 6 carrucates. There 
is one bondsman, and two mills valued at 35s., and 20 
acres of meadow. The wood suffices for five pigs. 

" In the time of King Edward, the manor was valued at 
£10 ; afterwards at £6, and now at £9 10s. Twenty-one 
houses (13 in London and 8 in Southwark) belonging to 
this manor, which pay 12s., have been detached, and are 
held by Earl Roger" [de Montgomery]. 

We gather a good deal from the above as to the state of 
cultivation and population of the' locality. But still it 
must be remembered a good deal is left out in Domesday, 
though what is there, may be depended on. Its testimony 
is unimpeachable in our Law Courts. 

The next authentic record of Wallington we shall take, 
will be the '^ Testa de Nevill/' compiled a.d. 1327, at latest. 
There, it is stated that Henry II. (between 1154 — 1189) 
granted part of the Royal Manor of Wallington to Maurice 
de Greon. This name occurs in connection with the neigh- 
bouring parishes of N'orbiton, Ham, and Ewell. When the 
King's daughter, Matilda, was married, he was assessed in 
£15 " aid,'' He was one of three Barons, chosen with 
three Bishops, for arbiters in the league Henry made with 
Lewis, of France, to go to the Holy Land. His son Guy 
succeeded him, Slth of Henry II., paying a fine of 
£134 13s. Id. for livery of the lands which his father held, 
and afterwards he went with Richard I. to the Holy Land, 
A.D. 1188 — the third Crusade. 



18 HISTORICAL NOTES 

Doubtless tlie dwellers in the neighbourhood received an 
additional impulse in favour of the Crusades from the fact 
that a daughter of Geo&rej de Manneville, of Carshalton, 
had married a son of Eustace, of Boulogne, who was father 
(by his second wife, Ida, of Loraine) , of Godfrey, the first 
Christian king of Jerusalem, a.d. 1099. 

The Crusades may be said to have originated with an 
English lady, Helena, the mother of Constantino the Great, 
attempting to fix the spot where her '^ newly adopted faith 
had found its cradle and reared its stage." From that time 
forward, pilgrimages to the Holy City became a practice 
among Christians ; and, as Christianity became corrupt, 
such pilgrimages were regarded as deeds of exalted piety, 
certain of receiving a glorious recompense. Then the dis- 
ciples of the false Prophet obtained possession of the Holy 
Land, and under Mohammedan rule, the Christian pilgrim 
suffered dreadful treatment and exactions. Pope Sylvester 
II. originated the idea of a Crusade, towards the close of 
the tenth century. But the work of arming Christendom 
under the banner of the Cross, against the Infidel, was 
reserved for Peter the Hermit — eleventh century. In 
the first Crusade, a.d. 1096, the English, as a nation, 
can scarcely be said to have concerned themselves ; though 
Robert, Duke of Normandy, the eldest son of William I. 
bore a distinguished part in it. It was in the third Crusade 
that England appeared most illustrious, in the person of 
Richard I ; though perhaps never did the armies of Europe 
leave its shores, without being accompanied by British 
soldiers and sustained by British wealth. "England," 
Fuller remarks, " was in that age the Pope's packhorse, and 
seldom rested in the stable when there was any work to be 



ON WALLINGTON. 19 

done." Again, in the ninth and last Crusade, A.b. 1270, 
our Edward I. set forth, and with him our Carshalton 
neighbour, William de Fielnes (now represented by the 
Lords Say and Sele), having jBrst mortgaged his estate to 
his attorney, Wm. de Ambesas. The promised co-operation 
of the French failed through the death of their monarch, 
and Edward found himself in face of the Saracen host at 
IS'azareth, with barely a thousand men. But British valour 
was triumphant, and Nazareth was taken. Many of our 
young readers know the story of Edward's being stabbed 
with a poisoned dagger, and how Eleanor, his lady, sucked 
all the poison out of the wound without doing any harm to 
herself. '^ So sovereign a medicine," says Fuller, ^' is a 
woman's tongue, anointed with the virtue of loving affec- 
tion." The valuable lives and money lavished in these 
enterprises is incalculable. In the year 1213, a boy in 
France is said to have gone about singing in his own tongue, 

"Jesus, Lord, repair our loss, 
Return to us Thy Holy Cross." 

He was soon followed by a band of ninety thousand children, 
who never reached their destination in the Holy Land. 
'' Their nierry music soon had a sad close, all either perish- 
ing on the land, or being drowned in the sea." Thus 
Fuller; who, quoting from Matthew Paris, ascribes the 
whole movement to the devil, who, "as it were, desired a 
cordial of children's blood to comfort his weak stomach, 
long cloyed with murdering of men." l!s^evertheless, God's 
Providence brought good out of all the evil ; for certainly 
those were days from which European civilization may date 
its decided progress. The general intercourse of nations 
emancipated men's minds from a narrow bigotry ; extended 
c2 



20 HISTOEICAL NOTES 

commerce ; and prepared tlie way to receive tlie knowledge 
of a more excellent way. 

Maurice de Creon gave the Manor of Wallington, with 
his daughter, to Guy le Yal, who died in 1199 (1st of John), 
and was succeeded by his nephew Gilbert, who was one of 
the Barons that took part in securing the Magna CJiarta 
for the people of England. King John's accession to the 
throne of England, while Arthur, the son of his elder 
brother Geoffrey, was still living, excited the amazement of 
the whole nation. Thus it became necessary to secure the 
popular favour by some extraordinary act; and nothing 
was so likely to conciliate all parties as to promise the 
restoration of those ancient liberties which had been granted 
in the time , of Edward the Confessor. For, with the 
Norman conquest, all had been superseded by the will of 
the Sovereign. The ISTormans, who had at first willingly 
availed themselves of the permission to seize the lands of 
the Saxons, ere long became anxious lest a similar exercise 
of regal power should dispossess themselves. The Forest 
Laws, which denied the right of the proprietor to all game 
found on his land, and which claimed '^ all Beasts of Venery " 
for the King alone, were peculiarly harsh and severe. 
Surrey especially seems to have suffered from those laws. 
The Church, too, suffered from the withdrawal of previous 
liberties. But John was not the man to yield to anything 
but extreme pressure. True; John, the murderer of his 
nephew Arthur, had fallen under the ban of the Pope — 
Innocent III. — and on March 23rd, 1207, the whole king- 
dom was laid under an Interdict, The effect of this was ; 
churches were closed; the sacraments withheld, and the 
dead buried, without prayers, in unconsecrated ground ; 



ON WALLINGTON. .21 

marriages were performed at tlie doors of the holy edifices, 
and prayers read in the churchyards. Misfortune had 
attended John in his wars in France, and of all that the 
English crown once possessed, Guienne only remained — so 
he seemed rightly named Lachland. Still none of these 
events moved him to consider his people — rather they were 
incitements to fresh oppressions — till in 1213 the Pope 
solemnly deposed John from his throne, and exhorted all 
Christian kings to unite against him. The French king, 
Philip, was rejoiced to have to put this sentence into 
execution, and received promises of support from some 
of the English Barons, whose indignation at John's conduct 
tempted them so far to forget themselves. Then John, 
finding it useless to carry on opposition, humbled himself 
before the Papal Legate, Pandulf, and on his knees 
ofiered him the kingdom for his lord, the Pope, with the 
tribute of 1,000 marks. The proud Churchman flung the 
money on the ground, and then stooped to pick it up — 
insolence and cupidity combined! All these matters 
aggravated the disputes between John and his Barons ; till 
they met at Stamford at Easter, a.d. 1215, and elected 
Bohert Fitzwalter, Baron of Dunmow, their leader, under 
the title of "Marshal of God and the Holy Church." 
!N"or must we omit to mention the prominent part taken by 
Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, on the side of the 
Barons ; till at length they forced John to sign the Great 
Charter, at Runnemede, a meadow between Staines and 
Windsor, 15th of June, 1215. Twenty-five Barons were 
elected by the rest to enforce the observance of this instru- 
ment — the keystone of English liberty. ''All that has 
since been obtained/' says Hallam, "is little more than 



22 HISTOEICAL NOTES 

confirmation or commentary ; and if every subsequent law 
were to be swept away, tbere would still remain the bold 
features tbat distinguish a free from a despotic monarchy." 

Since such is the fact, it is no small honor that the lord 
of Wallington should have joined his neighbour, William 
de Mowbray, of Banstead, and the other Barons, in securing 
this inheritance for us. But no sooner had that wretched 
King signed the Charter than he began to look about for 
objects on whom to wreak his vengeance. And so his 
officers seized Wallington, as forfeited by the act of its lord 
in opposition to the crown. John Fitz Lucy obtained a 
grant of it; but he incurred a forfeiture by remaining in 
ISTormandy. The Eang then gave it to Eustace de Courtenay. 
Well might the nobles, dreading such proceedings against 
themselves, desire a Charter that should confirm their 
position. Our neighbours at Boddingtoil were at that time 
no better ofi*. 

The De WatevilleS had obtained full possession of the 
Westeiii Manor in which the Church was situated. In 1159 
Ingelram de Funteneys (Fontibus) and Sibyl de Wateville, 
sister of William de Wateville and wife of Alan Pirot, gave 
the advowson of the Church of Beddington to the priory 
of Bermondsey. In 1196 the estate had fallen into the 
hands of the King ; and from the Testa de N"evill, we find 
Richard I. gave ten shillings rent in Beddington to William 
de Es. His son Eustace died in 1205, and the land again 
reverted to the crown. 

As for the other Manor in Beddington, which had come 
into possession of the HuSCaile family, King John, in the 
17th year of his reign, granted to his chaplain, Dyonisius, 
land which had belonged to William Huscarle. Let us 



ON WALLINGTON. 23 

pause a moment here to gather up some ideas as to those 
times. 

Those were the days of Papal ascendancy. The Pope had 
blessed the banner of the Norman William when he set 
out to invade England. In Henry II's reign the encroach- 
ments of the Papal clergy became unbearable, assuming to 
themselves immunity from the laws of the realm. The 
Council of Clarendon (Wilts), a.d. 1164, decreed that the 
clergy should be tried as other men. Those were the days 
of Becket — educated in the monastery of our neighbouring 
parish, Merton. Chosen to repress the encroachments of the 
clergy, he became their encourager in them ; till, in a hasty 
moment, the King exclaimed, " Will no one rid me of this 
proud priest?" Four gentlemen set off, and stayed not till 
they had taken. Becket' s life. 

It was to Henry II. that the Pope gave Ireland ; and so 
the green Island, the land of St. Patrick and of a true 
religion, became the slave of Papal superstition, and has 
remained in great part to the present day — " fast bound in 
misery and iron." 

Henry, according to Papal orders, made atonement for 
the murder of Becket, walking barefoot and prostrating 
himself at the shrine, in Canterbury, of him who was now 
to be a Saint Thomas. A whole day he remained fasting, 
and watched the relics all night ; and in the morning he 
solemnly vowed £50 per annum for candles to illuminate 
the shrine. Disrobed before the monks he put a scourge in 
their hands ready to inflict their castigation on his bare 
back. Next day he received the monks' pardon, in the 
Pope's name. 

Henry was unfortunate in his wife Eleanor, Duchess of 



24 HISTORICAL NOTES 

Aquitaine, a woman of bad cliaracter, who instigated her 
sons against their father; while Henry did not make 
matters better by his intrigue with fair Rosamond, at 
Woodstock. Not much wonder if John turned out so 
badly, trained from a child in evil ways. 

But what was likely to be the character of the common- 
alty, if the royal palace was such ? The people of 
Bedddington, we have seen, had been handed over to the 
care and teaching of the Cluniac monks of Bermondsey ; 
Carshalton to the Austin canons of Merton, who had also a 
good slice of Wallington. Salmon mentions " seven paro- 
chial altars thus stripped of their dues " — all close to us. One 
cannot look over a few of the old monastic histories without 
being struck by their wealthy endowments. In the 12th cen- 
tury the territorial property of the Church, of which the 
larger part was vested in monasteries, amounted to nearly 
one-half of all England, and, in some countries, to a still 
larger proportion (Hallam.) Not that the monks had it all 
their own way even then, but were often lamenting the profane 
hand of the laity, as the hand of the wicked spoiler ; just 
as the allocutions of Pio Nono, in our day, are full of the 
same distressing complaints. It is impossible to deny that, 
unsound in principle, the monastic system yielded, as might 
be expected, a harvest of mischief, not only to minds whose 
indolence and vice it nourished, but to pure and noble 
minds, whom it misled. The good it effected under 
an overruling Providence was, notwithstanding its innate 
corruption ; and the influence it exercised on the general 
public was pernicious in the extreme. What could be 
expected from Teachers brought up in superstitious prac- 
tices and immorality, euch as St. Bernard, and others of 



ON WALLINGTON. 25 

themselves, describe and lament over ? Truly these were 
the " dark ages ! " — " good old times ! " some would blindly 
affirm. But passed away now, for ever, before the light of 
an open gospel ! 

One Historical note we must not omit in reference to 
our Merton lords. In 1236 a Parliament, or I^ational 
Council was held at Merton Abbey — whence came the 
Statutes of Merton. it was in this Council that the 
Prelacy, having introduced the Canon Law, founded on the 
Imperial constitutions, to supersede the common law of 
the realm, the Barons made the memorable declaration : 
" Nolumus leges Anglise mutare " — '^ We will not alter the 
laws of England." The Inquisition was established at the 
beginning of the 13th century. One of the Albigenses, 
first opponents of Rome, was burnt in London a.d. 1210. 
Thirty Germans had suffered at Oxford in 1168 
* But a greater power than Pope or Prelate, Barons, or any 
National Councils, was about to make itself felt in England. 
The morning star of the Reformation at length arose to 
shine on our land ; and Wicliff stood forth to proclaim ^' the 
naughty deeds of the Friars," and the mysterious " Beast." 
Yet we must pass the stirring and not inglorious times of 
Edward I. and III., as affording no " Historical JSTotes " for 
Wallington. From the days of King John, the Manor had 
passed through the families of Salinis and de la Lynde, till 
we find Katharine, widow of Thomas Lodelawe, died siesed 
of this Manor in 1394, 17th of Richard the Second. This 
was just eleven years after Wicliff had completed his trans- 
lation — the first — of the whole Bible into English, and his 
followers had become known as " Lollards," "the singers" 
of Psalms and Hymns, such as St. Paul encouraged 



2^ HISTORICAL NOTES 

(Col. iii. 16), Bible Printing had not then come in. But 
a hundred years after, Dr. Boland Phillips, Vicar of Croydon, 
preaching at St. Paul's, London, exclaimed, " We (meaning 
the Romanists) must root out printing, or printing will root 
out us." 

But as we have some notes of transactions in Beddington, 
we will give them, ere we close the llth century. After 
the days of King John, the Manor of Home-Beddington, or 
Westcourt, was granted to Raymund de Laik, or Lucas, in 
1238. A Lucas was Archdeacon of Surrey, and Sub-deacon 
of the Pope. In the reign of Edward I., the Manor fell to 
the King, who granted it to Thomas Corbet, his valet! It 
afterwards passed to Thomas De Merle ; then to Thomas 
de Brayton, clerk ; and finally to Richard de Wyloghby, or 
Willoughby. Sir Rd. de Wyloghby had an only daughter, 
Lucy, who married first Sir Thomas Huscarle, who held 
then the other Manor of Beddington, which he had held iiP 
King John's time. [The Huscarle seems (as the name 
denotes. House Stetuard), to have been an old Saxon family. 
In ^'Domesday" such a name occurs at Abinger, Surrey], 
Sir Thos. Huscarle died, and his widow married Mcolas de 
Carreu, who thus became possessed of the two manors. 

There was apparently, for a time, another Manor of 
" Bandon," over which Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, claimed 
seignorial jurisdiction in 1279 ; and early in the reign of 
Edward III. Reginald le Forostor held a messuage and 30 
acres of land in Bandon and Beddington of Thomas Corbet. 
This le Forester was Sheriff in 1344; M.P. for Surrey in 
1348. There was an estate here belonging to the Hospital 
of St. Thomas, Southwark, called the Manor of Freres, 
Friars, or Brethren; and, in 1353, the Archbishop of 



ON WALLINGTON. 27 

Nazareth had a bit of Beddington. Did he come over to 
this country with Edward I. on his return from Palestine, 
as the friend of Edward's valet ? In those days there was 
also one Simon Roke, citizen skinner of London, who held 
land in Bedyngton, Bandon, Wodecote and Waletone. 
Woodcote appears generally apart from the rest. Is it 
identical with Rd. de Tonbridge's holding in "Domesday?" 
Having mentioned St. Thomas' Hospital, it may be 
interesting to trace its history, as in connection with our 
neighbourhood. It was in 1213 that Richard, the then 
Prior of Bermondsey — in whom the advowson of Bedding- 
ton was invested since A.D. 1159 — " an old hospital for the 
maintenance of the poor, long since built, having been 
destroyed by fire and utterly reduced to ashes" — proposed 
to build a new one adjoining the Priory, and dedicate it to 
St. Thomas (a Becket). The then Bishop of Winchester 
supported the plan, granting an indulgence for thirty days 
to all persons who should contribute. On the suppression 
of monasteries, a well-timed sermon by Ridley, Bishop of 
London, awakened the benevolence of the young king, 
Edward VI ; and after consultation with the Lord Mayor 
and Corporation, three great charitable institutions were 
decided on — Christ's Hospital, for the education of youth ; 
Bridewell, for the poor, and correcting th^ profligate ; and 
St. Thomas', for the relief of the lame and sick. What an 
amount of good has been effected by means of these and 
similar institutions throughout our land, founded by the 
saintly youth, Edward VI — ^turning possessions which had 
mainly nourished superstition, into sources of healing of 
the mind and body! In July, 1552, the city began to 
repair and enlarge the Hospital, and in the November 



28 HISTORICAL NOTES 

following, 260 poor and infirm people were received into it. 
The Hospital has sufiered greatly in its possessions, though 
not in its buildings, bj the fires of 1676, 1681, and 1689. 
A new building was commenced in 1692 ; and now on a 
difierent site, opposite Westminster, on the Thames S. 
Embankment, there has been erected another building, or 
seven separate ones, supplying 600 beds for patients — an 
Institution whose benefits the people of Wallington, in our 
day, often experience. 

The Nicholas de Carew who first came to our neighbour- 
hood was of an ancient family.'*' In 1362 he was one of 
the Knights of the Shire for Surrey. In 1372 he was 
made Keeper of the Privy-Seal by Edward III., who like- 
wise appointed him one of his executors. He died in 1391, 
about which time the greater part of the present Beddington 
Church was built ; towards which he left £20. 

There is a silver penny '' such as is usually ascribed to 
Edward II." (as Mr. Poole, of the British Museum, has 
kindly given his opinion) — not Edward I — in the Museum 
at Beddington School, which was ^? found under the foun- 
dation of the ^N". W. pillar of the nave of Beddington Church, 

* Manning (vol. ii) traces the pedigree of the Carew family from Otho 
who came originally from Florence, and then with Wm. I., to England. 
His residence was at Stanwell, Middlesex. His son Walter married a 
North Wales Princess, and was made Governor of Windsor Castle ; whence 
his family were called " de Windsor," "Lords Windsor" — now in the 
Clive family. A grandson married a South Wales Princess, and, through 
her, the family had Carrio Castle, properly Caerew — the "fortress" 
(Collins), Pembrokeshire. The same grandson had a grant of Moulsford, 
Berks., from Henry I. Sir William, in time of John, was the first that 
appears with the name of Carru (a.d, 1213). From Sir Nicholas, of 
Moulsford (who died in 1308), descended four sons : (1st) Sir John, 
ancestor of the Carews, of Cornwall ; (3rd) Nicholas, who came to 
Beddington. 



ON WALLINGTON. 29 

July, 1850;" so Rev. Jas. Hamilton testifies. Curious are 
tliose silver pennies of tlie time of the Edwards — difficult 
to distinguish, from one another, but easily recognized in 
themselves ; as an old versifier — 

" Edward did smite round penny, halfpenny, farthing ; 
The cross passeth the bond of all, throughout the ring : 
The king's side, whereon his name written. 
The cross side, what city it was in coined and smitten. 
To poor man ne to priest, the penny frays nothing ; 
Men give God aye the least — they feof (endow) him with a farthing. 
A thousand, two hundred, fourscore years and mo. 
On this money men wondered, when it first began to go." 

There are four such pennies in the Museum of Bedding- 
ton School, besides coins of later date. 

Before the Church was arranged in the present manner — 
of which hereafter — the organ was in the Tower; and *^in 
the singer's gallery, which partly occupies the space behind 
the organ, were four old wooden stalls, having turn-up 
seats, or 'miseries/ ornamented with foliage, shields, a 
female head in a reticulated head-dress, and other carvings." 
It seems probable that the above stalls were originally 
provided for the ''four fit GJiaplains,^^ which Mcholas de 
Carreu in his will, dated in 1387, directs " should be found, 
one of them for ever, and the others for five years ; to 
pray for his soul, and all Christian souls, in the Church at 
Beddington." (Brayley, 1844.) But he knew not the days 
of such mass-priests were even then numbered. The " wilV^ 
also contained provision for " 12 torches, and 5 wax tapers, 
each weighing at most 6 lbs.," for the funeral. But he 
could not have passed from Wales to Ireland, as some of 
his family did, or he would have known the Irish blessing : 
'^ May every hair in your head be a candle to light you to 



30 HISTORICAL NOTES 

glory ! " and then this part of the will of that rich and 
'' accomplished man" would have been different? However, 
his better sense appears in making provision for the cloth- 
ing of 13 poor men to carry the torches. 

Thus having placed Beddington under the Carews, in 
whose family the greater part of the Parish continued till 
1856, we will return home to Wallington. In 1314, one 
Thomas de Lodelowe died siesed of the manor of Tooting ; 
and his son's widow dying in 1394, the inheritance, with 
the manor of Wallington, devolved on his daughter Margaret, 
the wife of Sir Johll Dymock, whose family held Tooting 
and Wallington for nearly two centuries — till the time of 
Elizabeth (Brayley). It seems from the records of Merton 
Priory, they held their principal Manor Court at Micham; 
and Sir John Dymock received at his Court, at Waleton, suit 
and fealty for lands held of him in the Parish of Kingston. 
We may suppose that the principal residence of the Dymock 
family was at Wallington. Manning gives an extract from 
the '' Close Eolls," stating that in 1454, the family of Sir 
Thos. Greene held lands in Waylyngton and Woodmarston. 
Does this mean Woodcote ? 

In Burke's " Landed Gentry," we are told that the family 
Dymock derived its name from Dymock, in Gloucestershire ; 
and they have inherited Scrivelsby, county Lincoln, from 
the Baronial House of Marmion. 

" They hailed him lord of Fontenaye, 
Of Luterwarde and Scrivelbaye, 

Of Tamworth tower and town." — 

Scott's Marmion — Canto I. 

The lords Marmion claimed to be hereditary Champions 
to the Dukes of Normandy, and so of the English sover- 



ON WALLINGTON. 31 

eigns. Philip de Marmion, in Henry III. had four 
daughters. Joan, who had for her portion the manor of 
Scrivelsby, married Sir Thos. de Lodelowe, Knt. Their 
daughter and sole heiress, Margaret; married Sir John 
Djmock ; thence of Wallington. 

The first of the Dymock family who was officially em- 
ployed as Champion, was this Sir John, at the coronation 
of Richard II. Sir Baldwin Freville claimed the office of 
Champion, but it was adjudged to the Dymock family, in 
whose family it is now hereditary. The office of Champion 
is "to ride completely armed upon a barbed horse into 
Westminster Hall, and then to challenge combat with 
whomsoever there should be, who should dare to oppose the 
Sovereign's title to the crown." 

Sir Thos. Dymock, in reign of Edward IV., gave way to 
the temptation of joining Lord Welles — a family connection 
— and the Lancastrian party, and suffered a premature death 
on the scaffold. Perhaps this accounts for a note in 
Manning, that Sir Nicholas Carew had the "forfeited" (?) 
Manor of Wallington from Henry VIII? and on the 
attainder of this Carew, the Manor was recovered by the 
Dymocks. 

Sir Edward Dymock was Champion at the coronation of 
Edward VI. and Mary, and also of Queen Elizabeth. He 
died in 1566, and was succeeded by his son Robert ; whose 
son, Sir Edward Dymock, married Catharine, daughter of 
Sir James Harington ; and so was purchased, from the 
Dymock family, this Manor of Wallington in 1592, which 
was again transferred in 1596 to Sir Francis Carew. 

The Haringtons, though not long connected with Wal- 
lington, are a remarkable family in this period of English 



32 HISTORICAL NOTES 

history ; so we will refer to some " IN'otes " in reference to 
them, There were two families of Haringtons in Queen 
Elizabeth's time — one, Sir John Harington's, who was 
godson of the Queen, whose place was at KelstOD. 
(Somerset), now of Wendon, Devonshire. He was dis- 
tinguished for his wit and gallantry, and was accounted the 
Martial of his day. The other family, which was connected 
with Wallington, trace their origin and name to Havering- 
ton, in the county of Cumberland, and eventually they 
settled at Exton, in Rutlandshire. The then Sir James 
Harington, of Exton, Knt., dying in 1592, left three sons — 
John, Henry, and James. 

1. John, created in 1603 Baron Harington, of Exton, was 
tutor to the Princess Elizabeth, daughter of James I., and 
went with her, as her guardian, on her marriage to the 
Count Palatine — Fred. Y. — and died at Worms in 1613. 
The daughter of this Princess was Sophia, from whom our 
present royal dynasty of Hanover. 

3. James, whose grandson. Sir James Harington, was 
M.P. for the county of Middlesex in 1654, and one of the 
Commissioners for trying King Charles I ; and after the 
Restoration was, with Lord Castlemaine, Sir Henry Mildmay 
and others, excepted out of the general pardon. The first 
cousin, of this last, was James Harington, groom of the 
bed-chamber to Charles I., and who attended his Sovereign 
to the scaffold. He was educated at Trinity College, 
Oxford, by Chillingworth, the gifted author of "The 
Religion of Protestants ; " and was himself the author of 
The Commonwealth of Oceana — " a political allegory, which 
exhibited, in a fictitious land, the form of government most 
conducive to public liberty." It was a book which created 



I 



ON WALLINGTON. 66 

mncli excitement by its publication in tliose days. Cromwell 
said, in reference to it, that lie " would not suffer bimself to 
be scribbled out of what he had won with his sword ;" and 
even now, the great Journal of our Times — in the day of 
grace, 1872 — quotes "Oceana" in its arguments. How- 
ever, the Harington family have left sundry small legacies 
behind them, for the benefit of Wallington, in the shape of 
some fartJiing -tokens of copper, picked up in the fields at 
various times — a coinage then, for the first time since the 
days of the Heptarchy, introduced into England. The 
farthings we read of previously were one of the pieces of a 
silver penny cut into four. Proposals for such pieces had 
been made to Elizabeth, who resolutely refused to listen to 
any scheme for a copper currency. But in James I., John 
Harington — Baron Exton — was empowered to make them : 
hence they were called, in the slang of the day, " Haringtons." 
There are some fifteen of them in the School Museum. 
" Their type is two sceptres crossed in saltier — one sur- 
mounted by a cross, the other by a fleur-de-lis ; above, a 
crown; legend, JACO. D. G. MAG. BBIT. Reverse: an 
Irish harp crowned, FBA. ET. HIB. BEX." 

Having arrived at a period of our History when Walling- 
ton no longer had an independent existence as a separate 
Manor, we turn to the common fount of honour to Beddington 
and Wallington — the Carew family. From the time of 
their entry into our neighbourhood, they exercised a 
considerable influence, and, ere long, became possessors of 
the greater portion of the landed property in 18 parishes of 
the county. 

We take up our ''Historical Notes" again with the 
commencement of the 15th century ; and we find successive 

D 



34 HISTORICAL NOTES 

Carews representing the county in several Parliaments, or 
as Sheriffs of the county. In the Careio Chapel, in Bed- 
dington Church, are several interesting monuments — the 
oldest being that of the founder, Sir Richard Carew, made 
a Knight Banneret at the battle of Blackheath, in 1497, 
when the people of Cornwall rose against the increased 
taxation, and, headed by Lord Audley, marched towards 
London, and, on Blackheath, suffered a signal defeat. Sir 
Mcholas, son and heir of Sir Richard, was a great favorite 
with Henry VIIL, and was, for several years, the almost 
constant companion of the king, " and a partaker with him 
in all the jousts, tournaments, masques, and other diversions 
with which that reign abounded." Yet, notwithstanding 
these and many other honours received from his Sovereign, 
he appears to have engaged in a conspiracy with the 
Marquis of Exeter ; Henry Pole, Lord Montacute ; Sir Edwd. 
JSTeville ; the then Rector of Beddington, his relative ; and 
others (all zealous Roman Catholics), to overthrow the 
Government, and set Cardinal Pole upon the throne. The plot 
was discovered by the agency of a brother of one of the con- 
spirators, and all were executed. Sir Nicholas was beheaded 
on Tower Hill, a.d. 1539, when he made '^a godly confession 
of his fault and his superstitious faith," (Holinshed). His 
estates were forfeited ; but his only son. Sir Francis, being 
in the service of Queen Mary, obtained the restitution of 
his ancestral inheritance in 1554. This gentleman erected 
a magnificent mansion at Beddington, in which he had the 
honour of being twice visited by Queen Elizabeth. [There 
was a Manor House before., for Henry VIII. held a council 
there in 1541.] 

Doubtless the son had fully realized the folly of his 



ON WALLINGTOX. 35 

father, and could clearly see what his father could not, 
^^ that no foreign prince, prelate, or potentate hath, or ought 
to have, pre-eminence or authority in this realm of England." 
One wonders what were his feelings when, on the 27th of 
ISTovember, 1554, at a special sitting of Parliament, Pole 
sat on the right of the Queen, wearing his Cardinal's hat, 
promising the Pope's blessing, if the nation would again 
submit to him ; and only one member. Sir Ralph Bagnall, 
stood firm to his principles, and refused to kneel before the 
Pope's representative. Sir Francis died unmarried in 
1611. There is a costly monument to this Carew — a fine 
example of the sepulchral style of James I. It is a long 
altar-tomb, upon which, between two Corinthian columns of 
black marble, supporting an enriched entablature, lies a 
full-length statue of the deceased, sculptured in alabaster, 
upon a mat. He is represented in complete armour with a 
skull-cap, instead of a helmet : his hands are as in prayer. 
In front of the tomb, on a low plinth, and kneeling upon 
cushions, are small figures of a Knight in armour, and his 
lady in a ruff and long cloak, together with five sons and 
two daughters — the latter wearing ruffs and farthingales. 
These, as we learn from an affLsied tablet, represent Sir 
!N"icholas Throckmorton (his nephew, who succeeded to his 
estates, and who erected this monument " to the memorie 
of his deare and well deserving unckle") ; Mary, his wife, 
eldest daughter of Sir Geo. More, of Losely, Knt., and their 
seven children. Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, like his 
father, was a zealous Protestant and earnest Christian. 
The inscription, therefore, becomes such a man ; and 
though somewhat laudatory of his '' unekle," tells us that 
'* Christ alone was his hope in his last hours " — a great 
d2 



3G HISTOEICAL NOTES 

contrast to the first of the Beddington Carews, as previously 
noted. His father was celebrated both as a soldier and a 
statesman; and acquired so much of the royal favour of 
Queen Elizabeth, that the Earl of Leicester is suspected to 
have hastened his death by poison, ^' as he died suddenly 
at the EarFs house, near Temple Bar, after eating a hearty 
supper, 1570." He had a residence in Carshalton; and 
one would be curious to know what father and son would 
have thought of that Vicar of Carshalton, W. Quelclie, B.D., 
who would have himself commemorated as one whose " lott 
was, through God's mercy, to burne incense here about 
30 yr., and ended his covrse April 10, Ano. Dni. 1654:, 
being aged 64 years." Sir Nicholas (the son) must have 
felt sorely grieved during the last twenty years of his life 
with this curiosity in his native Parish, if he was really 
one of the Laudian revivalists, and attempting to use incense 
as part of the ceremonial of the Church of England, which 
it is not, nor of the true Catholic Church. If the wise men 
brought among their gifts, frankincense, they did not burn 
it. Indeed, as Dr. Hook says, '' The use of incense, in 
connection with the Eucharist, was unknown in the Church 
until the time of Gregory the Great, in the latter part of 
the sixth century." But we will hope the Yicar Quelch 
was only giving a figurative expression to his sentimentality 
on behalf of the ashes ! (save the Christian body !) of a 
certayne fryer, his predecessor in the Vicarage, and was 
neither Pope nor Pagan. Yet in 1624, there was placed on 
the floor of the S. aisle in Carshalton Church, on a brass 
plate, the figure of a woman praying ; and out of her mouth 
comes this inscription : — 

" blessed Lady of pittie, p'y for me, yt my soule savy'd may be." 



ON WALLINGTON. 37 

And underneath again : " Pray for the soule of Johan 
Burton, on whose soule Jhu have mercy. Ainen." 

In Beddington Church we have other fashions. Margaret 
Huntley, wife of John Huntley, who lived at Wallington 
Place (according to Sir Francis Carew's will, 1611), was 
buried 1638, ^^ in certain hope of a joyful resurrection :" 
^^ virtus post funera vivit." Over this is a death's head; 
below is winged hour-glass ; and on each side is a skeleton 
— singular ideas as to emblems of joy, one would say. 
But in the same Church, Mr. Greenhill (see epitaph), a 
Master of Arts, in 1633, exhibited a tablet with similar 
ornaments. So Beddington led Wallington then; for 
'^ examples are catching." 

All this puts one very much in mind of the little 
excrescenses to the Churches one sees on the Continent, in 
the shape of little chapels filled with human bones ; some- 
times with figures of men and women rising up out of what 
appears to be the flames of hell, and evil spirits keeping 
them in fire. Doubtless, useful incitements to the faithful 
that they should pay the m.ass-priest to pray them out. 

But we are getting on over fast, some may say, if we 
leave out all notice of ^^ good Queen Bess," who so favoured 
our liege lord of that day with her visits. Is it possible 
that some of that Queen's loyal subjects were not always so 
pleased with those Progresses, as were the proprietors of 
the mansions she honoured by her presence ? For whenever 
the Court moved, in the neighbourhood, a grand embargo 
was laid on horses and conveyances for the use of Her 
Majesty ; and this happening frequently, was no light 
burden. As many as 24,000 horses are said- to have been 
required on some occasions to move Elizabeth's household 
from the county in which she had been residing. 



38 HISTOEICAL NOTES 

The vicinity of Nonsuch Palace, in the Parish of Cheam 
— or rather Cnddington — made these visits easy. The 
Manor of Cnddington came into possession of the crown in 
1539. The old Mansion and Parish Church were pulled 
down, and two parks inclosed ; and shortly afterwards the 
King commenced the erection of the Palace of '^ Nonesuch^ 
The works were not completed on the death of the King, 
in 1547. In 1557 Queen Mary granted it for a sum of 
money, and in exchange for Manors in I^orfolk, to the Earl 
of Arundel ; from whom it passed to Lord Lumley, from 
whom Queen Elizabeth purchased it, and passed much of 
her time there during the summer season. It was at 
Nonsuch that the Earl of Essex had a remarkable interview 
with Her Majesty on his return from Ireland in Sept. 
1599. .James I. settled Nonsuch on his Queen, Anne of 
Denmark. During the Commonwealth the property passed 
through various hands, till the Queen Dowager, Henrietta 
Maria, recovered possession, about 1660. In July, 1665, 
when the plague raged in London, sweeping off about 
100,000 people, the Exchequer Court was removed for a 
time to the ^' Queene's House,", at Nonsuch. It seems as if, 
that year, the plague did not reach this neighbourhood, as 
there are no deaths from it recorded at Carshalton or 
Beddington ; although, in 1625, there were 11 deaths at 
Beddington. The royal profligate, Charles II., granted 
Nonsuch to the notorious Barbara, created Baroness Non- 
such, Countess of Southampton, Duchess of Cleveland. 
Having obtained possession, she pulled down the Palace of 
Nonsuch, sold the materials, and divided the Parks into 
fai-ms. 



ON WALLINGTON. ^ 39 

Till the reign of Queen Elizabeth, there were few 
*^ country houses " with any comforts. There were grand, 
gloomy castles, with narrow windows ; but large windows 
were the cheerful characteristics that the Elizabethan style 
introduced. Eushes for covering the floors began then to 
be discontinued ; the lower classes used sand ; the middle 
and upper ranks had their floors polished, and sometimes 
inlaid with different coloured woods ; and carpets, or pieces 
of tapestry, were laid down in different parts of the room. 
The orders of John Haryngton's household in 1566 direct, 
that " the hall be made clean every day, by eight in winter, 
and seven in summer." (The hall was the principal apart- 
ment, where the family dependents all took their meals 
together, sitting at different tables according to their rank.) 
"All stairs in the house, and rooms that need shall require, 
were to be made clean on Fridays, after dinner. When 
any stranger departed, his chamber was to be drest up 
again within four hours after." " The meat for dinner was 
to be ready by eleven, and for supper at six or seven in the 
evening." 

One little note we must give. During the reign of 
Elizabeth, fair hair became fashionable; and the ladies, 
therefore, used various compositions for dyeing their locks 
this attractive colour ; and even fair-haired children were 
enticed into corners and feloniously polled, that court head- 
dresses might be made from the spoil. The statute of 23rd 
of Henry VIII. seems to have had little effect : " Every 
temporal person, whose wife shall wear any gown or petti- 
coat of silk, or any French hood, or bonnet of velvet, or 
any chain of gold about the neck, should keep one trotting 
horse for saddle, able for warres, of 3 yrs. or more, and 14 



40 HISTORICAL KOTES 

hands high." Who would submit to be taxed according to 
his wife's dress, in our day ? 

The progresses of Queen Elizabeth have been fully noted 
by Mcholls, to whom we must refer the curious for full 
particulars in these matters. When the Queen visited 
Kenilworth, there were consumed, of beer alone, three 
hundred and twenty hogsheads. In her progress to Lord 
Montacute's, three oxen and a hundred and forty geese were 
eaten at a single breakfast. Twelve times she visited her 
favourite statesman at Theobald's, and each visit cost Cecil 
between two and three thousand pounds. 

However, those were grand days for England. Elizabeth 
may have had her weaknesses, but she had, withal, the sense 
to choose excellent Ministers of State ; and the advance of 
England, during her reign, was great indeed in intellectual 
and material subjects ; while the consolidating influence of 
true religion was a guarantee for real progress afterward. 

During Mary's reign of ^Ye years, nearly 300 persons 
were burnt for adherence to the Reformed faith ; twenty-six 
in Surrey and Sussex (of whom Brayley gives the names). 
All the Romeward feelings and acts of Elizabeth's prede- 
cessor, failed to change the heart of English nation. Of 
some 10,000 parish ministers, scarcely 200 refused to 
accept the principles of the Reformation under Elizabeth. 
Hallam endorses the words, in which Carte sums up the 
character of Elizabeth's unlamented predecessor, as perfectly 
just : " Having reduced the nation to the brink of ruin, 
she left it, by her seasonable decease, to be restored by her 
successor to its ancient prosperity and glory." The 
thunders of the Papal Court against the Protestant Queen, 
and the attempts of foreign powerS; onl}'- served to exhibit 



ON WALLINGTON. 41 

the loyalty of Queen and People to each other ; and the 
medal struck in commemoration of the defeat of the 
'^ Invincible Armada," with its inscription, " Deus afiflavit et 
dissipantur," was a suitable acknowledgment of Divine 
Providence. And now began to stand forth a galaxy of 
imperishable names, which made this century remarkable. 
But while under James I. the nation made rapid advances 
in wealth and intelligence ; and trade and maritime enter- 
prise flourished — witness Sir Walter Raleigh, married to 
a Carew — causes were at work, which led to a great national 
convulsion in the next reign. Lau.d and Strafibrd are made 
to bear the blame in their respective departments of Church 
and State; but the untruthfulness of Charles, together 
with his arrogant assumptions of the Divine right of kings, 
contributed mainly to his own downfall. The struggle for 
popular rights resulted in much suffering to landowners 
and clergy, of which last class, thousands were deprived of 
their means of living, and prohibited from exercising their 
sacred functions. Eventually a military despotism prepared 
the people to welcome the Restoration of royalty, on almost 
any terms. Nevertheless, Cromwell ruled the kingdom 
with vigour and distinguished ability ; English influence 
was felt far and wide, on the side of truth and justice. 
Thus, always, unselfish English sympathy loves to show 
itself. We might instance his interference on behalf of 
the Valdese inhabitants of the Italian Alps, under their 
persecuting Sovereign. Milton's immortal lines recur : — 



42 HISTOEICAL KOTES 

GN THE LATE MASSACRE IN PIEMONT, 



Avenge, Lord, tby slaughtered saints, whose bones 

Lie scatter'd on the Alpine mountains cold; 

Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old, 

When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones-, 
Forget not; in thy book record their groans 

Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold ^ 

Slain by the bloody Piemontese, that roll'd 

Mother with infant down the rocks. The moans 
The vales redoubled to the hills, and they 

To heaven. Their martyred blood and ashes sow 

O'er all the Italian fields, where still doth sway 
The triple tyrant; that from these may grow 

A hundredfold, who, having learnt thy way, 

Early may fly the Babylonian woe. 

Proplietic words ! wliicli are receiving fiilfilment in the 
evangelizing efforts of tlie Yaldese throngliout Italy, still 
supported for their Home- Parishes among tlie Alps, by a 
fund arising out of a national contribution made in England, 
witb Cromwell's authority, over £32,000. The Protector 
himself gave £,2000. The cities of London and West- 
minster, £9,384 6s. lid. 

Our neighbourhood was not destitute of such feelings ; 
as we read in the Beddington " Church Book," that not only 
were there collections on a brief for St. Paul's Cathedral, 
6th October, 1678, to be re-built by Sir C. Wren; when the 
Carew of that day promised £5 for three years ; the Rector £1 
for two years; but in 1681 and 1682, collections made 
towards the relief of the French Protestants, £2 3s. 9|^d., 
and £10 9s. Od. 

The Massacre of St. Bartholomew, in 1572, stamped as 
it was with the approval of the Pope, Gregory XIII, "drunk 



ON WALLINGTON. 43 

with, the blood of the saints," (Rev. xvii. 6), by his medal, 
'' TJgonottOTum^ 1572/' had only whetted the depraved 
appetite of ^Hhe most Christian King" and nation of 
' France. The very exodus of the best of the land, to more 
hospitable shores, carrying with them so much of the 
nation's commercial industry, only roused the more bitter 
feelings against the Huguenots. '^Honest as a Huguenot" 
had passed into a proverb. But it was in France, as of old : 
^^ I hate him," said the Athenian, '^for ail men speak well 
of Aristides." In 1681 the Protestant University of Sedan 
was arbitrarily closed by Louis XVIII. Elizabeth had given 
a free asylum in England to the persecuted French Hugue- 
nots. In 1625, Charles I., with the aid of his minister, 
Buckingham, equipped an Englisb fleet to take part against 
the Huguenots, then besieged by the French King in La 
Rochelle — falsely pretending another object. But as soon 
as the true destination was learnt, captains and men refused 
to be tricked into such a shameful scheme ; and repeated 
attempts of Charles and his minister were in vain to make 
English sailors take the side of falsehood against God's 
truth. Be it ever so ! And though Charles 11. was a 
Romanist at heart, he was constrained by public opinion, 
in 1681, to sanction legal enactments in favour of such, 
refugees as should reach our shores. A newspaper of the 
day announces* : Plymouth, 6th Sept., 1681, " an open boat 
arrived here yesterday, in which were 40 or 50 Protestants 
who resided outside La Rochelle." Large numbers also 
arrived at Dover, Rye, etc. — ^many Pastors, hungering and 
in rags. At Rye, 18th April, 1682, Wm. Williams, the 
Vicar, and others, drew up a testimonial in favour of the . 
refugees, and allowed the use of the Parish Church for their 



44 HISTOEICAL NOTES 

services. About tliat time many French Protestants settled 
at Wandsworth, and engaged in trade there, and had a 
Chapel of their own. How like they to Abram in his 
pilgrimage, bnilding an altar wherever he stayed (Gen. xii). • 
Why should not English people do likewise in foreign lands ? 

It was Michaelmas, 1683, when the troublous times of 
the Commonwealth were well nigh forgotten, and the wasted 
years of Charles II. were closing in darkness, amid wars 
abroad and plots at home, that Sir JSTicholas Carew found it 
necessary to make over Wallington, and several estates in 
adjoining parishes, to Robert Spencer, Anthony Bowyer, 
and John Spencer, for a term of 500 years ; in trust that 
they should dispose of the property for the benefit of the 
younger portion of his family — six children. The era of 
the Hevolution succeeded, and so the business was delayed ; 
till, ultimately, an agreement was made for the sale of 
'^ Wallington Place," for the above-named term, to William 
Bridges, of the Tower of London, Surveyor- General of 
the Ordnance, and M.P. for Liskeard. (His portrait at the 
Manor House, with a roll in hand.) His great-grandfather 
was a gentleman of an old family in Ireland, who in a.d. 
1578, settled at Alcester, in Warwickshire. An uncle lived 
at Harcourt Hall, in Worcestershire, and distinguished 
himself as Col. John Bridges, during the Civil Wars. 
He was a firm friend of Hichard Baxter, of the same county, 
in whose life he is mentioned with honour. He used all 
his influence in favour of faithful ministers of the gospel ; 
and several works of the Puritans are dedicated to him — as 
" Trapp on the Gospels," and '' Baxter's Peace of Conscience." 

Col. Bridges at first sided with Lord Brook, Hampden, 
and Cromwell against the encroachments of the Crown. 



ON WALLINGTON. 45 

He lived at Edsom Hall, near Alcester. But we have no 
record where lie was on that Sunday, 23rd October, 1642, 
when Baxter was preaching in the village of Alcester, and 
the roaring of cannon was announcing the battle of Edgehill. 
We are told the thunder of the battle disturbed neither the 
preacher nor the" congreg'ation. Was it the eloquence of 
the great Puritan preacher that entranced his hearers, and 
suspended their alarm ? It was the first battle fought on 
English soil for centuries. The parishioners of Alcester 
then were not trained for war ; but they had learnt the 
noble lesson of peace, in the midst of danger — -in a word, 
to put their trust in God. In the following year, 1643, 
Col. Bridges was Governor of Warwick Castle, and con- 
tinued Governor almost all the time of the war. Afterwards 
he lived near Kidderminster, being Patron of the Church, 
a Justice of Peace, and a Parliament man. But, seeing the 
danger of Republicanism, gradually he changed his opinions, 
and ultimately sided with the party who restored the exiled 
Royal family. Then he lived in Ireland, where his family 
had property; and, with others, surprised Dublin Castle 
and Sir Hardress Waller, for the King, effecting his object 
skilfully, without bloodshed. 

The present Lord of the Manor of Wallington is descended 
from his eldest son John, who married Elizabeth, sister of 
Sir Wm. Trumbull, one of the Secretaries of State to King 
William III., whose epitaph Pope wrote, and some of whose 
correspondence with Pope has been preserved in the family, 
and appears in a late edition of that Poet's works. Then, 
doubtless. Pope could describe, from personal observation, 
" the blue transparent Vandalis," and had tasted the " mutton 
from Banstead Down," while " Dame Bridges" was resident 



46 HISTORICAL NOTES 

at the Manor House. Tliongli we should observe that the 
proverb does not allow all the honours to Banstead. It 
ran : 

Sutton for mutton ; Carshalton for beves ; 

Epsom for salts (?); Ewell for thieves.— Grose, 1811. 

Lodgings at Epsom Spa were fashionable and dear. So 
the light-fingered gentry sought cheaper accommodation in 
Ewell, whence to sally forth to the prey in Epsom. 

Brooke, the second son of Col. Bridges — godson of Lord 
Brook, that staunchest of Patriots and Puritan of Puritans 
— was the father of Sir Brook Bridges, of Goodnestone, the 
first Baronet, one of the Auditors of the Treasury (a.d. 1718). 
From him is descended the present Lord Fitzwalter, 
better known, hitherto, as Sir Brook Wm. Bridges, as 
staunch in the cause of Evangelical and Protestant truth, 
as ever was his illustrious " name-father," only, as a truer 
patriot, loyal to his Sovereign. He has claimed also, and 
been allowed by the House of Peers, to be Senior co-heir, 
through the female line, of the Baron Fitzwalter, of King 
John's time. We have little to note of the times of the 
^^ Glorious Revolution," except to add the name of another 
soldier in this family — Sir Matthew Bridges — who distin- 
guished himself under William III., and also under 
Marlborough, but was killed before Maestricht in 1703. 
There is a fine portrait of him in his uniform of that 
period ; as there is of Col. Bridges, Sir Wm. Trumbull and 
his lady, and of Sir Brook Bridges, the Auditor (painted 
by Lely), 

The first of the Bridges family who resided at Wallington 
was Elizabeth, the sister and sole heiress of Wm. Bridges, 
above, who died in 1714. She had also her town h5use in 



ON WALLINGTON. ^ 47 

Soho Square. Madam Bridges seems to have been a 
singular old ladj, of the strong-minded order. Among 
many other tales, an old man, in 1804, related that she had 
a habit of perambulating the boundaries of Wallington in 
a coach and four, which he remembered being driven 
through a stream, forming one boundary of the Manor ; 
and across the stream she used to throw, out of her coach, 
buns to the children who stood on her side of the stream. 
Pleasanter treatment than being bumped against the walls 
of our School-room, to make one remember which were the 
proper Parish limits, on occasion of the annual Perambula- 
tion of the Boundaries of Wallington and Carshalton ! 
There is a portrait of this lady in the old Manor House. 
She, dying in 1745, left her property in strict entail. One 
of her successors, a nephew, became Sir Bridges Baldwin, 
High Sheriff of Surrey in 1760. Afterwards, Mr. William 
Bridges inherited. His portrait represents him with a 
flute. He, too, was a great curiosity. He is described by 
our oldest inhabitant as " a little old gentleman, who liked 
great things." His early life had been spent in Italy ; and 
so when he came into possession (which he retained for 
thirty years), he put an Italian front to the old structure. 
He had a great housekeeper, and he drove about in a great 
coach (he never mounted a horse), wore a cocked hat,. 
bag wig, and great buckles in his shoes. He had a large 
fur tippet over his shoulder ; a muff for his hands, when it 
was cold, and a sunshade for his complexion, when it was 
hot. When he walked abroad in this dress, with a velvet 
cap on his head, he seemed to be the terror of all the little 
boys and girls of the Parish. This is that Mr. Wm. Bridges 
who left £200 in the 3 per cent. Consols — the interest to 



48 HISTORICAL NOTES 

be for the benefit of tlie poor of Wallington. He died 
unmarried in 1805, and was buried at Beddington. He 
divided bis property between tbe descendants of tbe Col. 
Jobn Bridges, above — now represented by Mr. N. Bridges 
— and a branch of the family of Lord Fitz waiter ; now 
represented by the Rev. Thos. Pym Bridges, of Danbury, 
Essex. The first in the succession to Wallington should 
have been iNathaniel Bridges, D.D., some time Lecturer of 
St. Mary, Redcliff, Bristol, where he lies buried — not 
forgotten. But the little old gentleman, expressing in a 
codicil, doubts of his relative's fitness to occupy the place of 
the Lord of the Manor of Wallington, passed him over in 
favour of his younger brother ; and left him to carry on a 
higher work, which his sorrowing people have recorded in 
an epitaph to his memory : — 

*' Marbles shall moulder, monuments decay, 
Time sweep memorials from the earth, away ; 
But lasting records are to Bridges given, 
The letters adamant, the archives heaven. 
There living records of his worth engraved 
Stand fast for ever — in the souls he saved." 

We will now endeavour to recall the state of Wallington 
and the neighbourhood in that day, with the aid vouchsafed 
to us, out of special favour, by the oldest inhabitants ; and 
so bring it down to our own day. We shall, of course, first 
have something to say about the Chnrch. For there was 
then a building answering to this description. Manning, 
taking from Lysons, describes it : " In a field, near the 
" road, are the remains of a small Church or Chapel, built 
" of flints and stone, the walls of which are for the most 
^' part entire, but it is now made use of as an Outhouse to 



ON WALLINGTON. 49 

" the adjoining Farm. This was probably no other than a 
*^ Chapel of Ease to the Church of Beddington, there being 
^^no Church at Wallington in the time of the General 
'' Survey (Domesday). It was new roofed a few years ago. 
'^ The stone work of the windows is entire. The East win- 
" dow has been stopped up ; on each side of it is a niche of 
^^rich Gothic architecture; and in the South-east corner is 
" a third for the holy water." Mr. Lysons could find no 
record in the Registry of Winchester concerning this 
structure. It stood on the rising ground, above Mr. Boorne's 
Brewery ; on land which formed part of the Manor House 
property, but is now with the Elm Grove Estate. It was 
pulled down in 1791. Mr. Smee, in ^^My Garden," states, 
in reference to the site, he had seen '^ tons of stones there 
piled together ; and one piece, evidently a stone of a window 
or door of a first-class Gothic edifice. There were numerous 
other fragments of tooled stones." 

That Wallington had some ecclesiastical standing, seems 
borne out by the fact that at the Visitation of the Clergy, 
the Benefice is entitled " Beddington-CUm-Wallingtoil," 
which is not consistent with the idea that the Hamlet of 
Wallington, supporting its own poor, levying its own 
rates, etc., independently; is only a civil distinction, and not 
ecclesiastical. Other Parishes composed of more than one 
district, similarly independent of each other in civil matters, 
have no similar record of their distinct existence noted in 
ecclesiastical matters ; and people did sometimes pull down 
Churches, without re-building them — as Cuddington Church 
was pulled down to make way for Nonesuch Palace ; and so 
it is Cheam-cum- Cuddington. 

It has been argued by those who should know something 



50 HISTORICAL NOTES 

of these matters, that there was a part of the Tithes of 
Beddington, set apart for the parson of Wallington. Is 
this likely in the nature of things ? The origin of Parishes 
and Tithes is opposed to this, unless as an exceptional case. 
If we go back to ^'hoar antiquity," the tithes of 
Wallington, not of Beddington, should support the parson 
of Wallington. Let us recall a few facts connected with 
the History of our English Parishes. How the Gospel 
came to our shores, it is needless to enquire. Whether the 
Claudia and Pudeus, of 2 Tim. iv. 21, were ever numbered 
among the British Christians, we will not argue. (See 
Conybeare and Howson in " Life of St. Paul.") But lAnus, 
of the same Epistle, was a Briton, afterwards a Bishop of 
Rome. Caractacus was a fellow-prisoner at Home, with 
Paul, A.D. 50. We have the memory of one British martyr 
in the faith of Christ, preserved in the name of St. Alban's, 
Hertfordshire. The mild sway of Constantius Chlorus 
would temper the Diocletian edicts of persecution ; and the 
Gospel advanced again. So that when the Emperor Con- 
stantino summoned an Ecclesiastical Council at Aries, 
A.D. 314, three British Bishops attended — from York, 
London, and Caerleon. We have also good reason to believe 
there were also British Bishops at Nice (a.d. 325), when 
Constantino called together that Council, as there were at 
Sardica, in 347, and Ariminum, in 349. The invasion of 
the Saxons created sad havoc in the Church of Britain ; and 
ere long it was restricted to the remote parts of the Island ; 
to Cornwall, Wales, Cumberland, and Scotland. But when 
the monk, Augustine, came, there were traces everywhere 
of what had been. The Church he is described as building 
at Canterbury, was on the ruins of an old British Church. 



ON WALLINGTON. 51 

History tells us of conferences he held, with British Bishops, 
and his controversies with them as to their mode of keeping 
Easter, and celebrating Baptism which was according to 
Eastern mode — not the Roman. It were too long a tale to 
tell ; bnt it is clearly proved that the recovery of the Island 
to Christianity, was mainly due to the efforts of the Ancient 
British Church ; aroused, indeed, to duty by Augustine and 
his Roman friends. Abundant documents prove that the 
Anglo-Saxons found traces of Christianity throughout the 

land. No Statute Law, forming or creating Parishes, 

can be traced in the laws of England during any period. 
But many enactments can be quoted, as referring to them 
as established, and confirming them. The Saxon records 
note Tithe-charges as esteemed to be God's tenth among 
British Christians. Palgrave, in his Anglo-Saxon Common- 
wealth, referring to an enactment of Ethelwulf's time 
(a.d. 854), supposed to be the legislative enactment by 
which the lands were first subjected to the payment of 
tythes to the clergy, argues rather that this enactment 
proved that the right of the Church to tythes had already 
been recognized in the most unequivocal manner (vol. i. 159). 
Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury (a.d. 680), tempted 
landed proprietors, as Justinian had done in the East, to 
build and endow Churches, securing to them the perpetual 
patronage ; and in a.d. 928, the rank of thane was allowed 
to founders of Churches, in the reign of Athelstan — his was 
the silver penny found in the Roman Villa — one of the 
most able and energetic of Saxon monarchs. In 1008, 
Ethelred held a legislative assembly at Eanham (Ensham, 
Oxfordshire), when the Archbishops of Canterbury and 
York took the opportunity to have a large gathering, on 
E 2 



52 HISTOEICAL NOTES 

whom tliey urged the duty of building Churclies in all 
parts of the country. 

How excellent the theory ; how beneficial in practice, is 
the Parochial system, which gives a Church, and secures 
the services of a Minister for all the people within certain 
limits. Pastor and people, with a mutual responsibility, 
looking to each other, as of right, for mutual aid; we 
escape the evils of mere favouritism, accompanied often by 
neglect of needy souls ; which are evils inseparable from a 
mere congregational system. We gather from a multitude 
of proofs that our Parochial Churches, with their endow- 
ments, are not national foundations, but the gradual fruits 
of individual liberality. As each landed proprietor, 
when he built a Church, endowed it out of the Tithes or 
Land of his Estate; we have accounted for the singular 
discrepancy in size, and the irregularity of boundaries of 
Parishes. Thus the. hamlet of Wallington — once a Royal 
Estate — is a narrow strip of land, on the West side of 
Beddington Parish, having on its East, Carshalton, the 
*^ Aultone " (Old Town) of Domesday Survey. To one who 
had distinguished himself at the battle of Hastings as 
Geoffrey de Magna ville, the King would be likely to grant 
something worth having, as the Estate of the Old Town, &c. 
On the other side there must be something good for Richard 
de Tonbridge — his own half-brother — and Milo Crispin; 
both inflaential and distinguished characters; so there 
would be left to the King the land adjoining the old Town 
of Saxon Waletone, With it there would be retained some 
meadow land by the Wandle and the two mills. And so 
the Royal Manor would contain only 823 acres, stretching 
in a narrow strip from Beddington Corner (Mitcham 



ON WALLINGTON. 53 

Common), beyond Woodcote, nearly three miles long ; while 
Beddington would contain 3951 acres; and Carshalton 2926 
acres. 

Of the endowments of the Church of England remaining 
to this day, there are calculated to belong to 

Pre -reformation times . . . . £1,949,204 

Post-reformation times .. .. £2,251,051 

£4,200,255 

From this deduct for Clerical Taxation 

by c. 106 of 1 and 2 Vict. . . 714,043 



£3,486,212 



If the sum of these endowments were equally divided 
among the Clergy of the Church of England, it would give 
each about £201 per annum. If the sum were divided 
among the whole community of Church people, it would be 
about 6f s. each. 

It requires very little consideration to discover that the 
above sums are very far from a tenth (tythe) of the produce 
of the land of England and Wales — much less, if tithe of 
trade (by law of Edward the Confessor) is reckoned — and 
if, as some would argue, provision for the poor is to be taken 
out of these sums, it would be easy to show, if so unsound 
an argument needed to be met, that, actually in the present 
day, a good fourth of the Church's income is paid to the 
support of the poor, diurch-rates may be traced to the 
special legislation of Ina, King of the West Saxons, 
A.D. 693 ; and it was, after they had been maintained as the 
law of the land for nearly 1200 years, that they were abro- 
gated. Poor-rates date from 27th Henry VIII., 1536, 
though it was not till 1601 that the system was matured. 



54 HISTORICAL NOTES 

We have observed that there was no Church mentioned 
in Domesday for the Royal Manor of Wallington. So there 
was no Church in the Royal Manor of Beigate ; though its 
Saxon name in Domesday is Cherchefeld {Church-field) , 
situated on the Rige-gate, or I'oad^-on-the-Ridge. In course 
of time it retained only the latter name — now Reigate. So 
in the case of Mortlake — the Archbishop's Manor ! Lysons 
has clearly shown that there was no Church, but at Wim- 
bledon ; the Manor including Putney, as well as Wimbledon 
and Mortlake. So no Church at Mitcham, held by the 
Bishops and Canons of Baieux ; nor at Morden, held by the 
Abbey of St. Peter's, Westminster. 

We should, perhaps, recall at this point that the Domesday 
Survey, if accurate in facts mentioned, was not exhaustive 
of all information that might then have been obtained. 
Its object being to secure a correct Taxation, matters which 
did not bear on this object, were passed by lightly. So 
the endowments of the Church at that period are very far 
from being fully stated. The counties of N^oi^^humberland, 
Cumberland, Westmoreland and Durham, are not described 
in the Survey. It is supposed that it was impossible to 
take any exact survey of these counties, as they had suffered 
so much from the Conqueror's revenge. Under the title, 
cc Terra regis," and land which had belonged to the Earls 
Edwin and Morcar, ivasta occurs almost everywhere. 

Then in other localities, we may be sure, the iron hand 
of the I^orman also carried destruction ; and we may well 
believe there were numerous wasta on a smaller scale. It is 
likely that the frequent contests all over our neighbourhood 
through several centuries preceding the eleventh, had left 
little for the Norman to destroy. No wonder if the old 



ON WALLINGTON. 55 

Town could not survive such repeated passages of arms. Its 
very name, as given by Ptolemy, implies that it occupied 
no strong position on the Surrey Hills. " Maes, or more 
properly magh, signifies field or plain — as in Sitomagus, 
Csesaromagus, NoviomagllS." (Lower.) N'o wonder then 
that the Old Town On the Hill-plateau should fall into 
decay. And the Church ? if an old British edifice ? On the 
very spot the loood and the clay (at Woodcote) would supply 
materials for walls of loattled worh to be plastered with the 
clay — as usual. If an early Saxon edifice, built of wood, 
like Benedict's Monastery at Monk-Wearmouth, or Green- 
stead Church, near Ongar, Essex, it would fall an easy prey 
to the flames of an enemy. Only a building of later Saxon 
style, copying the Norman style, would supply a solid mass 
of masonry that might withstand the ravages of enemies 
and ages. Nor is it unworthy of notice, that the shallow 
foundations required with the solid chalk close underneath 
them, would leave continually exposed to ravages of time and 
enemies, what would be hidden on softer land; so, few 
traces of the old Town are found. Thus the old Church 
gone, and the population of Waletone sorely diminished in 
Norman days — ^with no resident Lord of the Manor — the 
provision made in Bedintone Church must needs suffice ; 
and the Tithes of Waleton would help to enrich Bedintone- 
cum- Waletone. 

Again. The idea that there was a special provision for 
the Parson of the old Church in Wallington, arises out of 
the circumstance that there was a Portionist (Clergyman) 
who had a large share of the Beddintone endoivment, (^^ 4th 
part;" Manning i. 93.) In a.d. 1309, there was an Episcopal 
commission to enquire into that case ; and the return gave 



5G HISTOEICAL NOTES 

tliat it had existed thus '^ ab antiquo, libera absque cura " 
■ — from olden time free and a sinecure. Very suspicious is 
this return ! Nothing indeed is mentioned about Wallington 
and its ruined Church. But how this " sinecure T' from 
'' olden time f ' Its emoluments in 1473 (estimated at 40s. 
nett) principally arose from the Tithes of 200 acres of land, 
called Huscarle's Food (fee), on the North side of the Church, 
and from a house and twenty acres of land on the South 
side. But in the King's books, 1533, it is valued at 
£8 12s. Id. ; Beddington Rectory is £13 6s. 8d. Again : 
the patronage was annexed to the Manor of Beddington 
Huscarle. The old Church of Beddington was annexed to 
the other Manor. All this is puzzling in the extreme. One 
Portion! st felt it a burden on his conscience to receive an 
income, and do nothing for it. So William de Carru, on 
1st March, 1342, had a license for a private Chapel in his 
house in this parish. Certainly we cannot identify the 
Parson of Wallington with the provision made in the will 
of Carew, who died 1391, for ''one Chaplain to pray for his 
soul." The date would suffice to contradict this ; and it 
was to be in Beddington Church. 

But still retmms the question, what was the meaning of 
the old building described by Lysous, and pulled down in 
1791 ? If there was no Saxon Thane to build, some later 
Lord of the Manor, seeing his people increase around him, 
would, out of very love to God, and care for the souls of 
his dependents, have erected such a building ; not very- 
early in its style — probably the 14th century ? And this 
was a century marked, in the annals of our neighbourhood, 
by similar events. In 1342, Wm. de Carru had his Chapel 
in Beddington. ' In 1347, Reginald le Forester had an 



ON WALLINGTON. o7 

oratory licensed in his House, at Bandon And in 1348, 
the Hnscarles had a similar license for their house at 
Beddington; and Beddington Church re-built about 1390. 

Was there no moving cause for this outburst of zeal ? 
Was it that 1348 was the year of a great Pestilence ? A 
succession of earthquakes convulsed Europe ; and although 
England escaped this calamity, it was deluged with incessant 
rain from June to December. In August, the plague appeared 
in Dorsetshire, whence it gradually extended. Many of its 
victims expired in six hours; few lingered beyond three 
days. All the cemeteries of London were soon filled — one 
alone receiving 200 bodies daily, during several weeks. 
From man, the pestilence extended to the brute creation. 
Excessive rains then had a very difierent effect to what they 
have now ; for, on their ceasing, a malaria would arise from 
the saturated land. Thus it would be, before a proper system 
of drainage prevailed, when the rising of the " Surrey 
Bourne" laid the whole of the Old Town of Croydon under 
water. We may understand how it might well deserve the 
name of the " Woewater " — preceding, too, the plague of 
1665. But that it should have appeared also before the 
^^ Restoration of Charles II., and again in 1688 — on the eve 
of the ^^ glorious Revolution," were '^singular coincidences," 
which have been very rare since. The residents among 
the Chalk Hills of Hampshire are well accustomed to their 
^VLavants," in every village, on the recurrence of an ex- 
cessively wet season. To them it is only a disagreeable 
washing ? — ' ' Lavant. ' ' 

To return. Our architect, looking at the description of 
the old Chapel, would give " 1380 about the date'' Had 
we any great Lord of the Manor about that time ? And 



58 HISTORICAL NOTES 

we fix upon the LodolawS. Catharine, widow of Thomas 
Lodelawe, died siesed of this Manor, a.d. 1394:. That there 
was a house of some considerable importance is clear from 
the remains of a vaulted chamber, which still remains as 
a cellar to the present Manor House. We give a faithful 
woodcut on the opposite page. 

The dimensions give a room, 28 feet in its length from 
E. to W ; 15 feet wide from :N. to S. ; 9 feet high to the 
crown of the vaulted roof. The walls are of chalk; the 
roof is of neatly squared chalk, and is strengthened by five 
massive ribs of stone, which, like the roof, are slightly 
arched and pointed. Access from the the present house is 
in the N.W. corner, where is a small square window and 
doorway, slightly projecting, of same date as the rest of the 
structure ; and in the W. wall is a square aumbrey — locker. 
On the S. side is a more pretentious entrance, in a semi- 
octagonal projection, enclosing a spiral staircase of stone, 
perfect to a certain extent, but blocked up at about the 
height of the roof. Here, the doorway-arch is cut out of 
two large blocks of stone. The stone used is similar to 
that found at Godstone — ^to which, it will be remembered, 
there was an old road from hence direct — a stone which is 
generally used in the ancient buildings of the District 
(which has therefore been used by Mr. Tritton in his resto- 
ration of the Carew Chapel). The structure resembles the 
style of two '' Crypts" at Guildford, supposed by Brayley to 
Ibe of 14th century date. However, Mr. Brock gives this 
as the domestic architecture of the \^th century, or later; 
when Lodelaws and Dymocks held their '' Manor Courts " at 
Wallington, to which came their tenants as far as from 
Kingston. This ancient vaulted chamber would form a 



ON WALLINGTON. 59 

part of their Manor House ; for what purpose is not clear. 

That Manor House was on the site of one older still. 

Roman bricks, built into the walls, testify. Is it much to 

presume that the old Churcli was built by One of these 

LodelaWS, or Dymocks ? the Church first in point of time, 
the Manor House afterwards ; the Bector of Beddington-cum- 
Wallington taking his share of the duty ; and, in considera- 
tion of the tithes he received from the West of his parish, 
maintaining the proper services in this Chapel of Ease ? 
So long as this family continued to hold the Manor, the 
Church was kept up. But when the Manor fell to the 
Carew family, they would feel interested mainly in Bedding- 
ton ; and the landed proprietor failing in his duty, it would 
not be surprising if the Recto;r failed also ; and soon all 
would fall to decay, where there was no '' considering one 
another to provoke unto good works." And so the old 
Church came down in 1791. 

A record in the Beddington " Church Book " affords an 
example of a ^^ singular coincidence." How came this stir 
at that particular time ? 

1791. 

lOth June — Mops, Brooms and Brushes for Church £0 8 9 

10th „ Women, for Cleaning 8 

18th „ Glover's bill, for Smith's work . . 5 3 

23rd „ Beer for Workmen and Women . . 15 4 
22nd July — Beer for Carpenter whilst putting up 

Pulpit Stairs 10 

The work, too, must be hurried ! and so the Saxon stimulant 
was provided, in the form of beer. " Nam tua res agitur, 
paries cum proximus ardet." (Hor. Ep. 1. 18.) '^ For your 
own affairs are in question, when your neighbour's wall is 
on fire." 



60 HISTORICAL NOTES 

But Churcli-restoration in Wallington slept a while. 
Mr. Brook Allen Bridges (of wliom tliere is a portrait, 
as well as of liis grandfather, the Rev. 'N. Bridges, Rector 
of Wadenhoe, and his wife Sarah — Sawyer), succeeded 
Mr. Wm. Bridges. He was the friend of Hervey and 
Fletcher, Cecil and Bomaine, Newton" and Wilberforce ; 
and identified with every good work connected with that 
blessed revival of religion, which took place in the Church 
of England at the beginning of this century. He died in 
1815, and was suceeded by his brother John; during whose 
time the Mansion was generally let — notably, to the late 
Lord Chief Justice Denman. At his death, in 1833, his 
son John succeeded. The Collector of these ''Notes" well 
remembers a profitable week spent in his company and that 
of his brother Charles (the well-known author of a Com- 
mentary on Psalm cxix., and other works), during a tour in 
the West of England, on behalf of the Church Missionary 
Society. There was, at that time, much discussion on the 
subject of Elementary Education. Mr. Kay Shuttleworth's 
wise plans for providing a suitable supply of Teachers had 
lately come into operation. In view of these plans, the 
Wallington School of that day would be discussed ; the 
Pestalozzian system ; the Home and Colonial School, in 
Gray's Inn Boad ; and the Mayos, brother and sister. But 
there was little thought in the mind of one of the party, how 
deep an interest the locality would assume for him ; when, 
in God's Providence, the Wallington School would become 
his charge. Then its history unfolded itself. 

lu 1833 — when Mr. Bridges inherited the property— in 
consultation wilh the Misses Wallace and Mr. Bobt. Loraine, 
what plan would be most beneficial to the neighbourhood, 
it was decided to commence a Grirls' School. Mr. R. 



ON WALLINGTON. 61 

Loraine, now 47 years ago, had opened a Boys' School, at 
fourpence for each scholar per week, under Mr. Price. It 
was held in the honse, which is opposite ^Hhe Pump''' — 
Oxdon Place is the other side of the road. During sixteen 
years, the average attendance was about seventy boys. 
There was a Sunday- School — 130 boys, oftentimes, clothed 
at Mr. Loraine's expense. To carry out the plan of a Girls' 
School, Mr. Bridges threw two cottages into one, so giving 
the old Long-room at the present School, with the Teacher's 
apartments over ; and Mrs. Christmas was the first Mistress. 
The School soon grew too large for the existing accommo- 
dation, and consequently, in 1839, a suitable room was 
built (which forms now a part of our School-room proper), 
so that Girls and Infants received, separately, the instruc- 
tion needed. So matters continued till the Bev. James 
Hamilton came as Bector of the Parish, Beddington-cum- 
Wallington. He thought he saw a re- arrangement of 
educational affairs was needed ; and with the aid of liberal 
subscriptions from the Parishioners generally, the present 
building was erected and opened in 1843, by the side of the 
Croydon road, for the children of Beddington and Walling- 
ton. Mr. Price was transferred from Wallington, as the 
Master ; and Miss Cannan, of Wallington, was appointed 
Mistress, for the new Schools. The Wallington School was 
continued under Mrs. Christmas for Infants only. A School 
and residence was erected at Beddington Corner in 1843, in 
Bj^emory of the Bev. W. B. Ferrers ; and in Dr. Marsh's 
time, a room for Infants was added at the Beddington 
School. Many an old scholar retains a lively and grateful 
remembrance of the instruction received under these 
arrangements. 



62 HISTORICAL NOTES 

School matters continued in Wallington nnchanged, till 
increasing infirmities necessitated tlie resignation of Mrs. 
Christmas, after 31|- years' service. It was then decided to 
place the School under Government inspection, thus 
securing an unprejudiced opinion on the state of the School, 
annually; and also, proportionately to its real efficiency, 
obtaining pecuniary aid. Miss Burnand was accordingly 
appointed Mistress in March, 1838, and the School was 
re-organized, for Infants and older children, to meet the needs 
the new Parish of Holy Trinity ; and soon it was apparent 
that more accommodation was needed. 

Nor were the requisite funds lacking. The enlargement 
was effected without any extraneous aid from any Public 
Fund, at a cost of £237, in the summer of 1870. Though 
the Council of Education requirements expect, generally, 
provision to be made in Elementary Schools for one-sixth 
of the population ; yet ours suffices for our particular case — 
supplying accommodation for 116 children, 8 square feet to 
each, or sitting room for an adult audience of 200. The 
premises are well used in educational work. Mothers' 
meetings ; an Evening School ; a Science School, noted 
for its success in teaching Drawing for Mechanics, &c. ; 
Choral Societies; Evening Lectures, and Entertainments 
of every variety, can testify. 

And the Daily School flourishes. Miss Burnand having 
been compelled by ill-health to resign, to the general regret 
of those interested. Miss Hallaway has succeeded to the 
charge ; and the population of the neighbourhood still 
supplies its quota of children — Girls, Boys, and Infants. 
The School Premises have been dedicated by the Lord of 
the Manor, with the hearty good will of the Parishioners, 



ON WALLINGTON. 63 

for use as a School for ever, to be conducted on the Princijples 
of the Beformed Church of England. Thus our School in 
Wallington forms one of those 19,549 Week-day Schools in 
England and Wales, in which are educated, by the Church, 
1,187,086 children (Newcastle Commission), In the Educa 
tional Blue Booh for 1870-71, there were 6,382 Church of 
England Schools under inspection, besides 1,549 Protestant 
^Nonconformist Schools — not quite a fourth of the number 
of the Church of England Schools. 

Church of England people have also built twenty-eight 
Training Colleges ; in which were being trained, in 1871, 
1,666 students; and provided, at least, one-fourth of the 
funds required for the maintenance of those Institutions. 

The ^National Society for promoting the Education of the 
Poor in the principles of the Established Church, was 
instituted in 1811, and has expended nearly a million 
pounds in Educational work (more than four-fifths of which 
expenditure was for building Schools and Training Colleges) 
calling forth, at least, twelve times that amount from 
members of the Church of England. 

But these sums of money do not include the many Schools 
also built throughout the country without aid from any 
Public Fund — =as our School has been erected. We have 
thus a tolerable idea of the work of the Church of England 
in Primary Education. 

We now turn from our School to our ChuTCh affairs, 
which had been standing still since 1791 — ^though not 
uncared for, nor undiscussed. The thoughtful mind of the 
Rev. Jas. Hamilton had anticipated the event of another 
Church ; and not only was it discussed by him with Mr. 
J. Bridges, but it was provided for in the administration of 



64 HISTORICAL NOTES 

some Parocliial matterS; and the status of the future 
Minister legally defined. It was, therefore, to the honoured 
memory of his father, and subservient to the glory of God, 
that the New Church was planned by Mr. IST. Bridges, at 
first on a smaller scale than it now appears : but afterwards 
enlarged to meet the ideas of two friends who, unsolicited, 
offered aid for the work of making it a building capable of 
holding 500 persons. It was carried out by Mr. Simpson, 
from the designs of Mr. E. P. L. Brock ; and consecrated 
28th September, 1867, by the Bishop of the Diocese [Sumner) 
under the title of '' Holy Trinity Church, Wallington." It 
afibrds seats for 530 persons (of which 150 are free seats), 
and is thus adequate to a population far more than our 
locality can as yet supply. And, at any rate, it should 
always be more than sufficient for whatever may be the 
population on Mr. 'N, Bridges' property, which is 73 acres 
out of 522 acres. 

The Architect of our Church has chosen an exterior 
style, as nearly as possible, resembling the description of 
the old GJiapel, after the style of the middle of the 14th 
century. The west window of the South Aisle is similar 
to one in the Church of little St. Mary's, Cambridge, which 
was erected about 1350. Each window has a tracery of a 
different pattern. The stone, used with the flints, is Bath- 
stone. The roof is covered with Broseley tiles, of which 
description are the floor tiles also. The height of the spire 
is 110 feet. The interior of the Church gives an area of 
105 feet long and 51 feet broad. 

The intGrior arrangements are in accordance with 
primitive customs. 

The East end of the Church is a distinctive feature — 



ON WALLINGTON. £5 

technically called an octagonal Apse. Its form is of great 
antiquity, and appears to have been adopted by the early 
Christians from the plan of the Roman Basilicas, or Public 
Halls ; many of which were turned into Churches in the 
Constantino period. Almost all the early Churches had an 
Apse — that is, the segment of a wheel — as the shape of 
their Eastern side ; and there are traces of several, of Saxon 
date, still remaining in England ; one of which, at Wing, in 
Bedfordshire, is polygonal on plan, and not octagonal. 
The Apse, octagonal, is a marked feature in most Continen- 
tal Churches, even of late date ; though, in England, it is 
rarely found after the Gorman period. There remains an 
apse, octagonal, in the ruined Church, called the Friary, at 
Winchelsea, Sussex, erected about 1350, and nearly the 
same as that of Wallington Church. In the name Church 
we trace the Eastern origin, Kuriahon {Greelc sound) ; and 
in Saxon, Kyric, or Kyrch ; Scottice, Kirk — of or belonging 
to the Lord. We wiU go back a moment to the East — the 
cradle of Christianity — and take an account of Churches 
there in the time of our Constantino, then Emperor of the 
Roman world ; when Church-building may be said to have 
received its first important impulse — alas ! too often, after- 
ward, in the direction of error. 

Bingham's Ecclesiastical Antiquities will inform us that 
there was no uniform plan. We gather that the Church, 
generally, was of an oblong shape. The Church which 
Constantino built over our Saviour's sepulchre, at Mount 
Golgotha, was Bound. That which he built at Antioch was 
an Octagon. The Church of the Apostles, built by Constan- 
tino, at Constantinople, was in the form of a Cross — not a 
Latin cross. They were commonly, so placed, as that the 

F 



6G HISTOEICAL NOTES 

front or chief entrances were on the West side of the 
building, and the place for the Communion Table on the 
East side. But at Antioch the very reverse was the case ; 
and at Tyre also. St. Patrick, in Ireland, built a Church 
that stood from IN'orth to South. In those days the 
Building was divided into three parts : 

1. The entrance, as it were, where the penitents and 
catechumens stood. This part was often called the Narthex, 
(Physicians called their works on the cure of diseases, 
nartJieces, The reed-stalk, in which Prometheus is fabled to 
have conveyed the spark of fire from heaven to earth, is so 
called.) 

2. The Naos, or temple, where the Communicants had 
their places in due order. 

3. The Bema, raised above the level of the rest — which, 
in the early Churches of the East, took the form of an Apse, 
or resembled a Shell, 

Around and against the walls of the Apse were the 
Bishop's seat, and the seats of the Presbyters on each side, 
arranged in a semi-circular form. Tho place of the 
COMMUNION TABLE could not, therefore, be close to the wall 
at the upper end, but at some little distance from it, The 
Communion Table was made of Wood up to the time of 
Constantine, who caused some Tables to be made of Silver ; 
afterwards, Marble was introduced ; and then, with mag- 
nificence of buildings, there came in corruptions — the table 
became an Altar. We have no crOSS among our Church 
ornaments. In the time of Constantine there was none. 

Chrysostom writes (a.d 398) of the sign of the cross, as 
used at the Lord's table, in the consecration of presbyters, 
and the celebration of the Eucharist ; but that was the 



ON WALLiNGTON. G7 

transient sign, made on tlie foreliead, and not any material 
cross. In fact, the cnstom of setting up the material cross 
in churches is not to be traced so early as the age of 
Constantine. And the cross of the early Church was not 
at all the representation of the Latin Cross, on which our 
Lord was crucified ; the Holy Spirit guarding the Infant 
Church against the corruptions, which only a later age 
witnessed. Lady Eastlake, in her continuation of Mrs. 
Jameson's History of our Lord, as exemplified in works of 
art, states, " ancient objects of art, as far as hitherto known, 
afford no corroboration of the use of the cross in the simple 
transverse form (Latin cross) familiar to us, at any period 
preceding, or even closely succeeding St. Chrysostom." 
But in another form the cross, if not actually seen, is 
indicated — ^that is, on the so-called monOgram of Christ. 
It was in a.d. 311, on the eve of his great battle with 
Maxentius, whiph gave him the sway of the Roman world, 
that the supposed vision of a luminous cross appeared to 
this Emperor, in the sky, accompanied by the words, " In 
hoc signo vinces " — '' In this sign thou shalt conquer." 
But no description exists to determine the exact form in 
which this supposed vision appeared. Neither is it written 
what species of cross it was which Constantine erected, 
resplendent with jewels, on the Palace at Byzantium (to be 
thenceforward Constantinople) ; nor yet has any writer 
sufficiently described the sacred banner, or '^Labarum," 
which preceded his armies in all engagements ; or the cross 
which he inscribed on the shields of his soldiers. But on 
the coinage of his son Constantius, who became Emperor 
in 353, and reigned till 361, a representation of the 
Labairum, or sacred banner, began to appear. And the 
f2 




68 HISTOPJCAL NOTES 

Labarum appears on a coin of Yalentinian, in our Museum. 
We have had kindly lent us, by Lady Eastlake, an illus- 
tration from a coin of that time. Observe, the monogram — 
composed of two Greek letters. The 
X, or Ch., and P, which is the Greek 
E» — the first consonants of the Greek 
word Christ; as I.H.S. are the first 
letters of JeSUS in Greek. The coins 
of this period are many, and various 
in size ; yet in no single instance does 
the simple Latin cross appear. In the 
early Mosaics at Ravenna, which represent the Emperor 
Justinian (a.d. 528) and the Empress Theodora, the body 
guard attending them are seen with their shields inscribed, 
not with the cross, but with the monogram. By Rubens, 
too, in his series of the History of Constantine, as connected 
with the apparition of the Cross, the vision is represented 
in the full form of the monogram. 

Surely this is plain teaching — clearly proving the early 
Christians looked to Cheist, not the material cross ; in fact, 
avoided representations of that instrument of the death of 
Christ ; looking rather to Him, who hung thereon. 

In the old British Church of Perranzabuloe (Cornwall), 
the remains of which were unburied in 1835, '' there were 
no traces of rood-loft, nor latticed confessional, nor sa'cring 
bell ; no images, or paintings of saints, to sanction a breach 
of second commandment ; no censers, crucifixes, rosaries— 
not one — not the remnant of one could be be discovered, 
after most diligent search," though the mass of sand had 
preserved much that would otherwise have perished from 
exposure. A curious old CroSS stood there a few years 



ON. WALLINGTON. 69 

ago. It is formed after the rudest mode, by three holes 
which perforate, and a fourth cut only a little way into, the 
rounded head, of what the Cornish people denominate the 
" Men STcryfd,'' or '' inscribed stone." It measures 13 feet 
in height, four of which are buried in the sand. This 
memorial of early Christian- art, is probably as ancient as 
the time of Piranus, to whose memory this old Church was 
dedicated, being built at the beginning of the 5th century — 
fully a hundred years after Constantine's era — over 100 
years before Augustine arrived from Rome (a.d. 597), and 
in form, not resembling the Latin cross. You have an 
illustration on the opposite side, copied by permission from 
a Perranzahuloe,'' by Rev. T. C. Collins. (Bivingtons.) 

But it was in Constantine's time that the Eastern side of 
the Church began to be accounted more sacred than the 
rest ; a separation beginning to be made by means of rails 
— cancelli, whence comes ChailCel. The most ancient cus- 
tom was for men and woipien to come up to the holy Table 
to communicate; but the council of Laodicea (a.d. 367) 
particularly forbids women so to do. Soon after there 
were veils or hangings to divide the Chancel from the rest 
of the building ; and in England, history relates, that in 
some buildings, above, a high Chancel screen (making, as 
it were, the Holy of Holies of the Jewish Temple), there 
was placed a massive Latin cross ; or a crucifix (represent- 
ing our Lord on the cross), often with sundry figures of 
Apostles and later Saints, which place was styled the rood- 
loft — crosS'loft, we might say. At the Reformation, in the 
Canons of 1571, Churchwardens were charged to remove 
" all rood-lofts, in which wooden crosses formerly stood,, 
and other relics of superstition." Queen Elizabeth was 



70 HISTORICAL NOTES 

favourable to them ; but the .Reformers stood firm ; and 
crosses continued forbidden. And as for Ornaments ? 
tbe 82 Canon orders " tbe Ten Commandments ^o be set up 
on the East End of every Church and Chapel, where the 
people may best see and read the same ; and other chosen 
sentences written upon the walls, in places convenient." 

By the Liturgy of 1552, " The Table stood in the body 
of the Church, or in the Chancel." Laud, aided by arbitrary 
power, succeeded in having the Table placed, generally, 
'' altarwise " against the East end. But as there is nothing 
in the 'New Testament, so there is nothing in our Liturgy 
to encourage this; where the word ^^ altar " is not usedeven 
once. 

The separation of the sexes in time of Divine Service 
is an Eastern idea. Chrysostom expressly records, " it was 
not so from the beginning." Frequently the women were 
confined to '' galleries," as is the case in Jewish synagogues. 

The Singers as well as the Eeaders had their places 
assigned them in the Ambon, which was in the Nslyo, rather 
nearer the principal entrance than the middle of the Church. 
In the Apostolic age " all the congregation lifted up their 
voice with one accord." Bat the Council of Laodicea forbad 
all others to sing in Church besides the canonical singers, 
who went up into the Ambon, and sung by book; and 
afterwards the singers were withdrawn into the Chancel, 
which was also called the Chorus — whence Choir, Music 
is as ancient as the Apostles — but not instrumental music. 
The use of Organs in Churches came into the Church since 
the time of Thomas Aquinas, a.d. 1250. The instrument 
is much more ancient, but not in Church-service. Doubtless 
there were no Messrs. Walker to supply seraphic sounds; 



ON WALLINGTON. 71 

else, surely, they would have had one of their instruments 
to assist the Choir; as we now have (December, 1872), and 
doubtless they would have paid all the money for it, as we 
hope to do ere long. 

Then as for Bells ? For the first three hundred years, 
they did not have even one, as we have, the gift of our 
honoured friend. Lord Fitzwalter, from the foundry of 
Messrs. Mears. Who brought bells first into use for 
calling the faithful to prayer, is a thing yet undetermined. 
But no date earlier than the seventh century can be named. 
Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, in Campania, is said to have 
introduced them ; but in describing his Church, which he 
does very minutely, he takes no notice of Tower or Bells. 
Heiitzer (a German, visiting England in 1598) gives a 
curious account of English customs, and describes minutely 
Nonsuch Palace in Elizabeth's day, and has given drawings 
of it, and the Queen's equipages. He writes : " The 
English are vastly fond of great noises that fill the ear ; 
such as firing of cannon, beating of drums, and ringing of 
bells. It is common among the people, for a number of 
them, that have got a glass in their heads, to get up into 
some belfry, and ring the bells for hours together, for the 
sake of exercise ! " We, of Wallington, have a floor ready 
to receive the peal ; only we hope their vibration will not 
interfere with the Clock, for which are windows ready in 
our Tower. Our Architect has given us a handsome Spiee, 
but no Weatheecock ! We cannot say whether this arose from 
unwillingness to perpetuate the memory of Peter's denial of 
our Lord ; or that he wished us to understand that we ought 
'^ not to be carried about with every wind of doctrine," but 



72 HISTORICAL NOTES 

should keep firm in our Cliurcli to " the faith once for all 
delivered to the saints." 

Yet one. not primitive, fashion we have in our Church at 
Wallington — the Baptismal Font inside the Church. Up 
to the sixth age, the Baptisteries were outside the Church, 
But we can lay no great stress on that, before Him who 
^^will have mercy, not sacrifice." Many a mother rejoices 
to think that the prayers of the congregation go forth for 
her child within the Church ; and the most tender or 
scrupulous parent may be satisfied that the babe may be 
" sprinkled " only with the water ; or " dipped " in the water, 
as our font is sufficiently large to allow it. 

The characteristics of our Church will thus be sufficiently 
explained. Its completion and consecration witnessed the 
commencement of the Parsonage adjoining, which was 
completed by July of 1868, at the expense mainly of Mr. 
N. Bridges, with the aid of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, 
who added an endowment of £33 per annum. A separate 
District has been assigned by an Order of the Queen in 
Council, in December, 1867; and, since under theBlandford 

Act, it has become the ]^ew Parisli of Holy Trinity, 

Wallington, comprehending all that portion of the Ham- 
let, to the south of a line drawn across from E. to W., 
including " My Garden." 

We now turn to Boddington. You have a view of the 
Carew Mansion and the old Churcll as they appeared 
'^ one hundred years ago." During the incumbency of the 
Eev. J. B. Ferrers, in 1829, the Church Tower was partly 
rebuilt. In 1839, a new Organ was erected after the 
whole edifice had undergone a thorough overhauling. But 
in 1850, when the Rev. Jas. Hamilton w^as Rector, it was 



ON WALLINGTON. 73 

discovered that the roof was in a dangerous state ; and a 
new roof was scarcely in its place, when it was found that 
pillars on the north side were giving way. " For a moment 
it was thought that the old Church must come down. But 
the parishioners stood forward. The Churchwardens (Mr. 
Engstrom and Mr. Juggins) showed a noble zeal ; and 
suflBcient funds were soon obtained, not only to set right the 
roof and pillars, but to add an entire new Aisle (the N^orth) 
and substitute oak sittings for the close and cumbrous 
pews. The Rector and his friends restored the Chancel ; 
and stained glass windows were contributed, so that it was 
supposed to be ^one of the most attractive Churches in 
Surrey.' " 

But all this was as nothing compared with the work 
commenced in 1869 by Rev. A. H. Bridges, aided by his 
friends. We cannot enumerate all the '^ extensive and 
costly additions," so we will endeavour to summarize from 
the account in The Church Builder, ]N'o. xxxii. 

^' A new organ chamber on the N". side of the Chancel, 
with Organ by Lewis ; richly carved oak organ screen, by 
Morris; windows of ' organ chamber, painted glass by 
Lavers and Co. 

'^ The Chancel restored — new reredos, in mosaics — sides 
of E. window marble mosaics — rotable, sedilia, piscina, 
replaced. Sacrarium laid in English and foreign marbles 
and serpentine. Stalls and misereres ; choir seats — all in 
oak. New oak chancel-screen. Iron corona and pendants, 
by Skidmore. Altar candlesticks, by Hart. Nave, aisles, 
porch and seating, thoroughly restored ; carvings improved 
in character. Walls decorated in diaper, slightly coloured, 
by Bell and Co. Fresco (?) of imposing character and beauty 



74 HISTORICAL NOTES 

at W. end of N. aisle. Windows filled with painted glass, 
hj Clayton. Old organ and gallery removed. Inside of 
tower restored ; a peal of ten bells, by Mears. Exterior 
stone work restored; roofs covered witb lead. A new 
vestry, with singing room over — somewhat of a secular 
character ; windows all filled with painted glass. Ground 
outside Church lowered, levelled, drained. A new entrance 
on W. side. Lych gate, resembling one at Beckenham. 
The whole of the work done from and under the directions 
of the Architect, Mr. Jos. Clarke." 

In ^^ Brayley's Surrey " we are told, ^' The following par- 
ticulars respecting the Charities in this parish are inscribed 
on the front of the Organ gallery : — 

" Donations and bequests to the Parish of Beddington and 
Wallington. 

'^ Dec. 5th, 1825. Mrs. Ann Paston Gee bequeathed, by 
her will, £,1000, to be invested in the Funds ; the interest 
thereof to be given to the Poor on Christmas Eve, in every 
year. 

^^ 1625. Henry Smith, by will, bequeathed £2 per year, 
to the poor of Beddington. 

" Feb. 6th, 1830. John Bristow, Esq., £100 interest. 
" Several allotments of land were awarded by the Com- 
missioners under the Inclosure Act (52nd Geo. III. c. 308) 
for the ase of the poor. They also awarded a piece of land, 
called ' Church Mead,' to Beddington Church, 1 acre and 
29 perches. 

'^ Mrs. Ann Paston Gee gave apiece of land called ^ Cat's 
Tbrains,' containing 3 acres and 5 perches, in exchange for 
cottages and land on Chat's Hill, also belonging to 
Beddington Church. 



ON WALLINGTON. 75 

"William Bridges, Esq., gave £200, 3 per cent. Con- 
solidated Bank Annuities (it should be 3 per cent. Consols) 
to the poor of the Hamlet of Wallington, on account of the 
enclosure of a piece of land in the same Hamlet." 

To this we may add the gift of Mrs. Martha Medland 
(who lived in the Cayley family, once occupants of Elm 
Grove), '^ £43 14s. 9d. Bank Stock, for an annual donation 
of coals to the poor of Wallington, at Christmas." 

The Carew Chapel, on S. side of Chancel, was built about 
1520, and the " founder's tomb " placed there. Such chapels 
were frequently erected and used as burial places, when the 
idea prevailed that there was a peculiar efficacy in burials 
within a consecrated building. The Romans wisely buried 
away from the haunts of men. And, in our day, more 
wholesome regulations prevail ; and our sanitary laws forbid 
burials in Churches. The present proprietor (Mr. H. 
Tritton) has adapted it for worship ; and it has been faith- 
fully restored, unaltered, under the able superintendence of 
Mr. W. Butterjaeld. 

Turning to the Carew Mansion, Sir Francis built the 
magnificent House in which he had the honor of entertaining 
Queen Elizabeth twice — 18th Aug., 1599, and 16th Aug., 
1600. About the year 1709, Sir ISTicholas Carew rebuilt 
the Mansion on a grand scale — forming three sides of a 
square. The interior of the North wing was destroyed by 
fire shortly after it was finished, and it was never restored 
by the Carews. The Manor House, adjoining the Church, 
is thoroughly suggestive of the origin of Churches and 
Parishes; as already explained. When the last of the 
Carew property was sold, the Mansion, with land and gar- 
dens adjoining, was purchased for the Lambeth Female 



76 HISTORICAL NOTES 

Orphan Asylum, and the whole building underwent a 
thorough renovation. Of the old Mansion, 1528, only the 
Hall remains still — an admirable specimen of the Domestic 
architecture of the period ; and a curious old Lock is still to 
be seen. But the famed orange grove is gone — as from 
Carshalton, at Sir W. Scawen's. The last of the name who 
died was not connected with this ancient family. Richard 
Gee, Esq., of Orpington, Kent, was the grandson of Philippa, 
sister of Sir Fras. Carew (who died in 1689) and inherited 
Beddington under the will of Sir N. Hacket Carew, who 
died in 1762. He assumed, under authority of an Act of 
Parliament, the name and arms of Carew. That gentleman, 
dying unmarried in 1816, demised all his property to the 
widow of his brother William, who had been resident at 
Beddington, and died there in 1815. Mrs. Gee died in 
1828, and bequeathed her property to her first cousin — . 
Admiral Sir Benjm. Hallowell, G.C.B., Nelson's companion 
in arms, and a hero of the Mle. Pursuant to the will of 
his relative, he assumed, by royal license, the name and 
arms of Carew. On his decease, he was succeeded by his 
eldest son in 1834. It was his grandson, Chas. Hallowell 
Carew, who died arid was buried at Beddington last year. 
'Now that we are at Beddington we will first take our 
survey there with the aid of the very oldest inhabitants, and 
then return home to Wallington. We are at the Church 
and the Great House, as it was then called ; or Beddington 
Parh. To drive there, our carriage must have turned to 
the left, opposite the entrance gates of the present Eectory, 
built during the incumbency of the Bav. Jas. Hamilton, in 
1844 ; and, on the right hand, we should have passed a 
house, famous in Beddington story, as supposed to be the 



ON WALLINGTON. 77 

house in whicli the Portiomst lived ; afterwards occupied by 
succeeding Rectors of Beddington for nearly 200 years, till 
they very excusably fancied it was their own Rectory 
House. But a law suit decided otherwise, and the Carews 
obtained possession of it. Query ? How did the Carews 
come to swallow up this "house and twenty acres of land?" 
(see p. 55), However, Mr. Tritton rented this house from 
the Carews, and resided there. It has since been taken 
down ; and the old road exchanged for the present. And 
now we must leave our carriage at the Church gates, as, 
to see the Village properly, we must walk ; and we 
pass along the wall that encloses the gardens of the old 
Mansion, till we come to a gateway; in which an old 
entrance is restored by the proprietor, Mr. H. Tritton, whose 
care is seen on your right, in the preservation of the grand 
old Elm Trees, on each side of a path that leads out to the 
road. Cross the road; turn up the pretty path on the 
left; you have on the right, Queenswood (Mr. Norman 
Watney's residence). On the crown of the hill is the 
entrance to what has the sanction of long usage for 
its name, of Queen Elizabeth's Walk, or the "Ladye 
Walk." There were old trees there, too — as old as the days 
when she honoured Beddington with a visit. She is re- 
ported as having visited this spot, surrounded by her gay 
Court. And almost as gay, oftentimes, that walk appeared 
in the memory of some of our old friends, ^^ when George 
the Third was King." Then it was the resort of the grand 
people in the neighbourhood after their early dinner hour. 
The ladies would come "in a dress like a Dresden 
Shepherdess, with high-heeled shoes, followed by a pug-dog 
with his tightly curled tail, or, mayhap, a lapdog in arms. 



78 HISTOEICAL NOTES 

Then the beanx — possibly a plum- coloured coat, white silk 
stockings with pink clocks, pink silk breeches, and pink 
satin waistcoat." Such a description surely describes the 
" pink of perfection," if we add hair-powder, and a long 
queue ! Yet it was a pleasant stroll on the rising ground, 
from whence a tolerably distant view may be had of the 
country round, with the air fresh off the Downs. And 
occasionally would draw up a carriage and four, with 
postillions and outriders in scarlet, with my Lord Derby's 
family from the " Oaks ;" or some other equipage of the 
neighbourhood ; and after quantum suff, of chat, there would 
be an adjournment to " the Great House," or some other in 
the Village, for tea, etc. 

But the old trees were cut down in 1835. Miss Ferrers 
has kindly favoured us with some original lines, written at 
the time, by Miss Charlotte Cookson : — 

TO THE MEMORY OF THE LADYE WALK, BEDDINGTON. 
[Written in a.d. 1835, by Miss Charlotte Cookson.] 



The Village pleads in vain — the doom is past, 
And thou, sweet Grove, art sacrificed at last. 
Thy graceful line of variegated shade, 
That crowned the summit of the far -spread glade, 
O'er which the sun of centuries has been shed. 
And countless moons their silvery lustre spread. 
O'er which the storms of ages rushed in vain, 
Destroying man has levelled to the plain. 
No vestige left to tell our sons, that hero 
Eose the greeii bowr's to their forefathersi dear. 
The Village Pride ! — a haunt beloved by all. 
By every rank regretted in its fall — 



ON WALLINGTON. 79 

Dear to the cultured mind, that loves to trace 
In thought, the footsteps of an ancient race. 
And to the rustic heart, who views thy shade, 
Dear by a thousand recollections made. 

Oft have I seen, between thy parted maze, 
The hoary peasant stand awhile to §;aze, 
Where glows beneath the summer evening's sun 
The cultured fields, where youthful work was done ; 
Hi^ hands, for toil or mischief powerless now, 
Crossed on his staff — while he rememembers how 
His happy childhood shouted in the breeze. 
Plunged in the tangled brake, or climbed the trees. 
Again — in youth or manhood's graceful pride 
He courted here, his mistress and his bride. 
Advancing still in years— this path they trace, 
On Sabbath eve, with all their infant race. 
Ev'n now, though haply in the world alone. 
He loves the spot which these delights have known. 
A Boyal footstep, and a Eoyal name 
Hallowed thy shade, and gave it half its fame. 
Her feet, to which the Powers of Europe bowed, 
Prest this lone path, and left the courtly crowd. 
That regal eye, that quelled the pride of men. 
Glanced kind approval o^er thy quiet glen ; 
That lofty mind, that bore resistless sway, 
And made her people from the heart obey ; 
That in their love, with pious energy 
From superstition set our altars free, 
Mused in this green retreat — awhile alone, 
And wished, perchance, its quiet were her own. 

Alas ! alas ! this innovating age ! 

Nor Bower, nor Altar can withstand its rage. 

How oft we see the purest gift of Heaven, 

These little pleasures by our Maker given 

To soothe our labours — raise our grateful trusty 



80 HISTORICAL NOTES 

Ourselves destroy and trample in the dust. 

And can it be ? The saddened thoughts that rise, 

As from this ruined scene I cast my eyes 

To where arises from the neighbouring plain 

The loved, the venerated village Fane ; 

Is there an omen in these fallen trees. 

Of future changes, yet more sad than these ? 

When, haply like thesfe prostrate elms, be laid 

The Faith established by that Eoyal Maid. 

And in the liberal (?) maxims of the day, 

Our simple, ancient worship melt away. 

There is a Power that can avert the blow, 

If we, His creatures, our obedience know. 

There is a Power that can our light remove 

In due chastisement of our want of love. 

Farewell, sweet grove ! altho' thy shade no more 

Speaks to the heart of pleasant days of yore; 

Although no more thy noble boughs on high 

Wave over man their shadowy canopy ; 

And shelter from the sunlight's dazzling power 

In thy lone path, his meditative hour; 

Though there no more the feather'd warblers range. 

May Nature aid thee to resist the change ; 

Eeft of thy leaves, and prostrate on the plain 

Still may thy spirit in the earth remain : 

Thy roots retain their birthright in the soil. 

And mock the spade and ploughshare's useless toil, 

Mindful of former honours — wild and free 

Indignant scorn a vulgar field to be ; 

And upward send a never-ceasing race 

Of springing saplings to supply thy place ; • 

The long grass there in greenest native hue 

Harbour the primrose and the violet blue. 

And village children to thy brakes resort 

To pluck wild roses for their May- day sport ; 

And wandering lovers on their moonlight way 

Shall pause, regretful on thy bounds, and say 

(While sad remembrance checks their social talk) 

" That Copsewood fringe was once our LADYE WALK." 



ON WALLINGTON. 81 

But we have left Her Majesty in the Great House. We 
pass on up Church Street ; and we stand on the brow of 
'' Chat's Hill." What a curious name ! But 15th Sept., 
1854, there was an exchange between Mrs. Gee and the 
Parish, of a piece of land and five cottages on '' Chat's 
Hill " for ^^ Cat's-brains !" — a name of more than one piece 
of land hereabout. Besides, we have '^ Goose Green," and 
" Smoke shot." However, we are on the brow of Chat's 
Hill, and we stand to admire that old House — where the 
Post Office is. What a pretty sketch last year a Croydon 
artist .made of it! It is sometimes called the ^^ Manor 
House;" on what ground we cannot tell. 

We turn round and mark the magnificent Cedar in front 
of ^^Brandries House" — then occupied by Sir Francis 
Baring — now by Mr. Joseph Laurence. On W. side of 
road, opposite, was the old Workhouse. And whence that 
old name "Brandries?" '' I cannot tell," quoth our old 
friend, ^^ unless it has something to do with ' Brandy -bottle 
Hill,' after you have passed Mr. Lambert's snufi* mill, on 
the road to Croydon." And then we remembered what our 
old friend knew nothing of — that Camden writes of 
^^ Beddington : " ^^ At some distance from hence is Bottle- 
Hill, on the top of which is a Roman Camp, with a single 
rampart, and square ; and another on the top of a neigh- 
bouring hill, near Katerham." And our friend, Mr. West, 
wanted to persuade us that the site of Mr. Laurence's house 
is the site of an old Camp ! But enough of Roman anti- 
quities, our readers will say. We answer, " make a note of 
it." Continuing our walk by '' Wandle side," the road on 
the right hand is called " Hillier's :" (?) in memory of him 
who coined a Beddington halfpenny in. the 17th century. 
G 



82 HISTORICAL NOTES 

The house now occupied by Mr. H. Tritton, was then 
occupied by the family of Walton. The Bristow family 
also are to be noted ; and the house, where Rev. A. H. 
Bridges now lives, was occupied by the Wests. It was 
then called ''the Manor House." Whence this name? 
Was it the House of the old Huscarle Manor ? We think 
not. Inasmuch as Huscarle' s feod was on the North side of 
the Church; we are inclined to suppose the rest of that 
property was situated thereabouts — if not identical with the 
land, in olden time, the property of him, who possessed the 
Boman Villa, The house now occupied by Mr. Shaw, the 
property of the Piggott family, is on the site (?) very 
nearly of the Huscarle Manor House — on the Craneford 
river J where the Prior of St. Mary Overy had some land ; 
and from whence he derived a pleasing tribute of trout ; 
which the same river rendered also to our friend in his boy 
days. Then '' the Manor House" was the residence of the 
Foresters ? who one time held the Manor of Bandon. 

But who shall unravel all these antiquarian labyrinths ? 
The papers of the Carew and many other families might 
have helped. But the old documents are not ; worthless to 
any one, except the antiquarian. There was no Mr. 
Oldbuck to look after them. However, we have a tale to 
tell about that very locality where we now are. " My 
Garden" mentions, " in the grounds of Mr. Watney, a cave, 
of which many fabulous tales are told;" "continued to 
Reigate !" &c. Here is a t^me tale. One of my old friends 
informed me that it was at one time largely used in de- 
frauding the officers of Her Majesty's customs. When it 
became too notorious, a move was made to safer quarters. 
It was one blustering night, at the beginning of this 



ON WALLINGTON. 83 

cenfcury, that a traveller arrived at tlie '' Plough" — a weary 
horse and heavily-laden panniers. Could he get on to 
Barrow-hedges ? — then a roadside alehouse, of not over 
good repute with the Excise officers. Mine host of the 
'' Plough," with obliging readiness, soon found the traveller 
a guide, and forth the traveller set — labouring through the 
deep sloughs of Beddington. '^ Oh ! sir, it was a bad 
road then ; and opposite to where the School now is, it was 
had'' But the guide plodded on steadily, with lantern in 
hand, ever and anon carefully warning and lighting the 
traveller past some slough, deeper than another, till they 
arrived safely at the '' Barrow-hedges Inn." The traveller 
would fain reward his guide liberally for his trudge that 
stormy night. '' Can'st not see, man?" he exclaimed, as he 
held out the coin, which the guide did not take. '' Why, 
sir, it be Dick Simpson ! and he be blind ! " Dick Simpson 
was the man who stood to mind the gate across the road at 
the corner of what is now Mr. Mackenzie's garden wall, in 
Wallington. All the country round knew him well ; but a 
stranger did not. 

We are back again in Wallington — at home. '* Our 
Village" then was concentrated, as you might expect, in 
the neighbourhood of the Manor House. An attempt had 
been made to convert it into a manufacturing village. Mr. 
Kilburn had set up extensive cotton-print works ; and Mr. 
Reynolds had set up at Hackbridge ^' a manufactory for the 
bleaching of linens, the most extensive in the kingdom- 
Two hundred acres of meadow land are frequently covered 
with cloth, mostly of Russia and Irish fabrick. Mr. Foster 
Reynolds, in 1786, purchased this property, and built a 
house on an elevated part of it." (Manning). And at the 
G 2 



84 HISTORICAL NOTES 

close of the last century, and beginning of this, bleaching 
grounds extended all over the lands in Walling ton, on the 
left side of the Manor Road, up to where our Church now 
stands. It was common land, uninclosed then. The in- 
closure award dates from 1853, only. 

Mr. Manico's Pamper Mill was built by Mr. Kilburn for 
Printworks. ^^My Garden" was a bleaching- ground, in 
which stood a small Factory, built by Mr. Gruhh. How 
thoroughly the name anticipated the future destinies of that 
land under the active supervision that has carried out 
" My Garden." The road passed through two streams, one 
running across ^^ My Garden." These required two foot- 
bridges. The present Bridge was built in 1812. The house 
in which Mr. Purser resides was built by Mr. Newton; 
afterwards occupied by the Barwell Brown family. 

People had some idea that our neighbourhood was a 
prosperous locality. The Beddington Church Book makes 
it appear, in those days, as if there was little difference 
between Beddington and Wallington ; the Church Booh 
making the rate, as for instance, £105 and £103 respectively, 
and frequently in similar proportions. 

Hence, in 1801, an Act of Parliament was passed for 
making an " Iron Bail way " from Wandsworth to Croydon, 
with a branch to Carshalton (Hackbridge) . This was not 
for a Railroad Steam Locomotive. The first of this descrip- 
tion was introduced by Mr. Trevethick, at Merthyr, in 
1804. Stephenson's improved locomotive was first made 
for the Killingworth Colliery in 1813. Our branch of the 
L. B. and S. C. RAILWAY was opened in 1844. An iron 
tramway had been made in 1767, at Coalbrook Dale. 
Doubtless the railway idea was encouraged by the busy 



ON WALLINGTON, 



85 



little river Wandle '^ turning nearly forty mills of diflPerent 
kinds in its course of scarcely ten miles." (Brayley.) Who 
can say water-power will not have its value again, with 
dear coals f And tlie Population ? 





Houses. 


Population 


Occupation. 




•73 


i 
1 


bo 
•1 

pq 


1 


CD 


H 


•Si 


(D 
^ eg 


^ i 
^ i 


1811— Carshalton . . 


269 


323 


4 


8 


786 


1532 


107 


147 


69 


Beddington . . 


74 


74 


— 


1 


216 


446 


44 


16 


14 


Wallington . . 


134 


177 


1 


— 


409 


804 


44 


101 


32 


1871— Carshalton .. 


733 


— 


50 


104 


1853 


3657 


— 


— 


— 


Beddington . . 


257 


— 


27 




824 


1510 


— 


— 


— 


Wallington N. 


80 


86 


— 


6 


253 


497 


— 


— 


— 


Holy Trinity Parish. 


159 


170 


46 


34 


491 


853 


— 


— 


— 



We may add that the gross Valuation of Beddington 
was, last year, £17,844:, 19s. 6d. ; the rateable value being 
£15,303 13s. The gross value of the Hamlet of Wallington 
was £14,576 lis. ; the rateable value of Holy Trinity 
Parish being £9,950; and of the Worth portion of the 
Hamlet, £2,177. 

We thus gather a little how the world has progressed in 
our neighbourhood. But of Manufactures ? In our Parish 
there is only Mr. Manico's Paper Mill, employing scarcely 
a score hands. To the North of our Parish, in the Hamlet, 
there is Messrs. Frost's Skin-factory. The old Flock Mill 



86 HISTORICAL NOTES 

is untenanted ; and at Beddington Corner is a Flour Mill, 
and Messrs. Aitken's Drug Mill, and Messrs. McCrae's 
Tanning establishment — which last is really in Carshalton 
Parish, 

So we turn back on the memories of the past; in the 
young days of our oldest inhabitants. There was then 
Mr. Dredge's house occupied by the Knights. And we 
come on to the Village proper ; on the ground where Mr. 
Boorne's Brewery now stands, close to the Old Church and 
the entrance to the Manor House. Then opposite these, 
there were the shop and dwelling of Gumbrell, the Carpenter ; 
of Bonwick, the Baker ; and Cannan, the Blacksmith — ^the 
latter an enterprising character, who built a windmill, where 
is now South Beddington. It was burnt down in 1850. 
The earliest windmill in England was supposed to be one in 
our neighbourhood — at Tanrigge Priory, in the time of 
Richard II. (Manning.) 

But we are over the hedge, into Beddington. And so we 
turn back to ^' Elm Grove " — now the property of Mr. 
W. E. Graham. A Mr. Potts (to whose memory is a tablet 
in Carshalton Church) had a house, where are now the 
stables and out-buildings. In the day we spea^ of, a Mr. 
Gregg occupied Elm Grove House. He was solicitor to the 
Skinner's Company, and agent to the Earl of Carlisle. He 
was celebrated for activity and strict punctuality, as a man 
of business. Wealthy, and going daily to London, he had 
a " Post-chaise " kept on purpose for him, by the master of 
the King's Arms Inn, Carshalton — an expensive luxury in 
locomotion, which many envied. He had also a large 
establishment of servants, in strict and admirable order; 
and was also noted for hospitality and luxurious dinners. 



ON WALLINGTON. . 87 

which attracted not a few of the hon-vivant caste, to be his 
frequent visitors. One of these, who was most often at his 
table, on one occasion, did not get to Wallington as early as 
usual. On entering the house, he anxiously enquired of the 
butler whether dinner had begun ; was he late ? '^ No, sir," 
replied the butler, '' you are never too late for dinner V In 
the matter of punctuality, Mr Gregg was severe, and at 
once discharged any domestic, failing in that virtue. It 
is related that it was Mr. Gregg's practice to call at his 
banker's precisely at 9 a.m., with his cheque in his hand, to 
await the doors being opened ; when he was the first, if not 
the only person, to present his cheque, impatient of a 
moment's delay in the clerk's giving him the cash. Verily, 
in our railway days, Mr. Gregg could never have been late 
for the train ; though the train might often be late for him ! 
But, gentle reader, '^ Punctuality is a virtue," not to be 
smiled at, so much as imitated. 

Where is now the " Ik)se and Crown," were a lot of old 
tenements. We noticed the "long-room," made out of the 
lower rooms of two cottages, to make our first Girl's School. 
Mr. West had occupied one. The beams across, though it is 
not apparent through the whitewash, are " Spanish chesnut " 
— "hard as iron." "Quality Row" has much of similar 
timber, which is frequently found in buildings of 200 years 
ago, or more. " Parkfields," where Mrs. Cox lives, was built 
about seventy years ago. The House where Mr. Mackenzie's 
resides belonged to the Fry family, who, in 1762, bought 
the Manor of Banstead from the Carews. The principal 
part of the building may date back 200 years, or more. 
The House which is the property of Mr. N. Bridges, was, 
in 1610, usually called Wallington Place ; and then the 



88 HISTOEICAL NOTES 

*' Manor House." (The residences of the Lords of the 
Manor are often called '' Places.") Of late years it has 
been called '^ Wallington House." 

The locality where we now are should be of especial 
interest to our neighbours, ^^ the Village " on the West, 
which, according to the most trustworthy county histories, 
acquired " its present name from some Cross in the neigh- 
bourhood. In Domesday it was called Aultone, q. d., the 
Old Town ; then Cross-Aultone, which by degrees became 
Cressalton, Kershalton, and so Carshalton." Aubrey quotes 
an old Deed of Sir Henry Burton's, by which it appeared 
that there was a parcel of land belonging to the Priory of 
Merton — partly in Carshalton and partly in Wallington — 
devised by Henry YIII. to the Burtons, for the yearly rent 
of 25s. 6d., and was granted to William Blake in the same 
manner, etc. These lands were called the ^' Crosslands," 
and they appear to have come into possession of Sir Baptist 
Hicks — a name connected with the county of Middlesex, 
from his munificent gift of a Sessions House, " Hicks' 
Hall." He was afterwards created Viscount Campden, 
with remainder, after his decease, to his son-in-law, Lord 
Noel (whence Earl Gainsborough). This Lord Noel's 
mother was a sister of our Sir James Harrington. Sir 
Baptist sold these Crosslands 9th of August, 1609, to 
Thomas Flavers, Esq. The lands immediately adjacent to 
our Village answer the above description ; and the site of 
the old Cross ; such being frequently met with in Villages, 
and at the intersection of great thoroughfares, during 
mediaeval times. In Cheam, such a Cross stood at Lynce's 
Corner, marking the concurrence of the Parishes of Cheam, 
Cuddington, and Mitcham. (Brayley). The rent of 



ON WALLINGTON. 89 

25s. 6d. would represent but a small estate, even in 
those days. In Edward III. arable land was 6d. per 
acre ; growing ten bushels of wheat, worth 6d. per 
bushel. In 1599, a quarter of wheat was £1 7s. In 1601, 
a labourer had lOd. a day ; a master mason, Is. 2d. It 
would then take the mason three days to earn enough money 
to buy a bushel of wheat ; now he could buy it with less 
than half that time's labour. In 1644, it appears, from a 
curious document (quoted in Manning iii., 80), the average 
value of land in Surrey was 8s. per acre.. 

But to proceed. Miss Loraine's house was built by a 
Mr. Wright, who also built the cottages, Wright's Bow, 
on the right hand side of the road, leading up to the 
Boohery, On the left hand side we have Oxdon's Place, 
and Whitehall. There was, in that day, no house where 
Mrs. Lumb resides. Mr. Robert Loraine commenced build- 
ing operations there with a large room, which now is the 
drawing-room. Here commenced the first Musical Society 
in Wallington — a band of upwards of twenty instruments ; 
afterwards about thirty voices. Mr. Loraine and others 
added to the house at different periods. 

We come back again to the Greeil. " The Bowling 
Green," about a.d. 1800, with lots of children at play — 
no School then. On the Sunday, the women in scarlet 
cloaks ; the men in white frocks. The ^^ Duke's Head " 
was then a low thatched cottage of two rooms only, with 
steps to go down into it. On the right hand of Manor 
E/oad were a number of small tenements, occupied by the 
labouring class ; till Mr. Juggins came, and '' Manor 
Terrace" arose; while, consequent on these improvements, 
the old Holloivay, or Hollow Boad, became Manor Boad 



90 HISTORICAL NOTES 

also. How cliaiiged is the prospect, now, from the Manor 
Terrace ! Then, it was over extensive bleaching grounds. 
'Next came ^^the Enclosure" and the '' Field Gardens," for 
the " Labourer's Friend Society," with the Lavender fields 
and the Physic Gardens. To extract the virtues from the 
gardens' produce, Mr. Lee built a Still. But more pictu- 
resque eastward, we have the Alnxshouses (St. Mary^s 
Hospital), erected in memory of the Rev. James Hamilton; 
and since added to, by two connections of that gentleman, 
offering lodgings .and sundry small aids to ten poor people 
out of the old Parish of Beddington-cum- Wallington. The 
appointment, according to the original Trust Deed, is with 
the Rector and Churchwardens of Beddington ; alternately 
with the Minister and Churchwardens of the IN'ew Church 
■ — at Wallington. The Building is situated in the Parish 
of Holy Trinity, Wallington, but the spiritual oversight was 
reserved for the Rector of Beddington, by his special 
desire, in the order of Council, December, 1867. Then we 
have, close to the Almshouses, Mr. Wood's residence, '^ The 
Mains," perpetuating the memory of the name usually 
attached to that locality, and doubtless originating in the 
fact that the land thereabouts (good land !) had been in 
earliest times reserved for the Lord of the Manor, as his 
peculiar "demesne" — domain. Then only a few years ago, 
it seemed as if Wallington might one day rival Battersea, 
to which foolish people were advised to "go to be cut for 
the simples." Grose tells us the proverb originated in the 
quantity of medicinal herbs grown there; which the 
London apothecaries, who had purchased them, were care- 
ful to have gathered at the proper season of the year ; and 
so they went to Battersea to see their simples cut. It was 



ON WALLINGTON. 91 

all open country to Woodcote Lodge, then tlie property of 
Mr. H. Durand, now of Mr. M. Meryweather Turner. 

But these are things of the past. The Railroad came — • 
facilities increased for reaching the metropolis without 
incurring the expense of keeping a yellow post-cJiaise ; and 
the Freehold Land Society took a plot for building. Other 
adventurous spirits commenced — Messrs. MchoUS; Crowley, 
and others. Then the Church arrived ; and D anbury Ter- 
race; and Alcester Road; and Harcourt Road; call up 
memories of a past — ^to return no more. And other roads 
and Villas we cannot now mention. What was open 
country only, is now gradually throwing up a crop of 
houses ; and the Town on Wallington Plateau will claim a 
place in the " Historical ^otes " of some future compiler. 
People no longer find it necessary to go to '' the Village " 
(Carshalton) as of old, though its tradesmen still hold their 
high character ; but pause on the road occasionally, and 
find it convenient and profitable to do their little shoppings 
not so far from home ; and with our good friends at Bed- 
dington, we almost rival Croydon High Street ! What we 
shall be in future, who can foresee ? " We hope indeed for 
the best" — ''Palmam qui meruit, ferat." 

We have our attractions, we think — of Climate notably. 
Situated on the borders of the Chalk District, that part of 
the Hamlet of Wallington which is comprehended in the 
Parish of Holy Trinity — that is to say, Wallingtoil proper 
— attains a considerable elevation. Its lowest point at 
Wallington Bridge is 93J feet above the mean tide level. 
At Wallington Church it is 141 feet; Rosemount, 197 feet; 
while at Woodcote it reaches 267 feet. (Ordnance Map.) 
The land to the southwards and westwards is of even 



92 HISTORICAL NOTES 

higher elevatioil. Woodmansterne Rectory, which seems 
in a deep valley, is level with the top of St. Paul's, London. 
It is no presumption to claim for Wallington, on the 
'' Surrey Hills," a purer atmosphere and a more bracing air 
than the lower situations of the adjoining Villages can 
claim. Thus we can offer a suitable Sanatorium to the 
overworked brains of our great Metropolis. Indeed our 
character, in this respect, has been proved by the many 
who came to reside as invalids, and are now in the enjoy- 
ment of good health. It is accessible by railway in half 
an hour ; or by road, from either Westminster or London 
Bridge, it is a drive of ten miles. 

A striking peculiarity of freedom from StormS should be 
noticed. Oftentimes the thunder- clouds burst on the West 
and East, and South, without more than a very small 
portion falling in our Parish. Last summer, in the month 
of July, a very heavy storm flooded Croydon, and only 
stayed its course by Beddington. One could have counted 
the drops at Wallington ; but the same storm fell heavily at 
Cheam and Ewell. In a gentleman's house at Ewell, the 
lightning passed along the side of one room, and brought 
down all the pictures from the wall. 

Then what shall we say of oar " blue transparent Van- 
dalis," so tempting to the disciples of Isaac Walton ? or 
of the excellent partridge shooting, even amongst the mint 
and lavender ? These are privileges reserved for the 
favoured few, who can obtain permission from the land- 
owners to indulge in that sport. And the packs of hounds, 
with frequent meets near at hand, must be put aside, if we 
would offer some relaxation, and an object to which ^Hhe 
many " may look for enjoyment. We think there is one 



ON WALLINGTON. 93 

pursuit, at least, that may be taken up, to tlie great benefit 
of health and mental instruction. For if "My Garden" 
has its wonders, certainly the neighbourhood of "My 
Garden" has its attractions, which the Wild Flora 
of the district may supply. If one is an enthusiast in this 
branch of Natural • History, the railroad will take the 
Botanist to Banstead Village (572 feet above the level of 
the sea) and Banstead Doions in twenty minutes ; or BoxJiill 
may be reached in half an hour ; Leith Hill, adjoining, is 
967 feet, the highest elevation in the county — ^neighbour- 
hoods, where are to be found the richest treasures of the 
County Flora. A stroll through Norbury Park and Juniper 
Hall grounds, will fill a vasculum with almost every variety 
of Orchis ; while various kind^ of Ferns abound. But our 
own immediate neighbourhood is not deficient, as may be 
gathered from the perusal of the following papers on the 
subject, contributed by two friends, as a Supplement to our 
" Historical Notes." 

Glance at a " Note " we have, from one of our Poets, of 
the scenes to which we invite you : — 

" spacious airy downs — • 

With grass and thyme o'erspread and clover wild, 
Where smiling Phoebus tempers every breeze, 
The fairest flock rejoice. 

Such as the Downs of Banstead, edged with woods 
And tow'ry villas." — 

Dyer's Fleece. — Book I, 



BOTANICAL WALKS ABOUT WALLINGTON. 



WALK FIRST. 

You want me to direct you to some Botanical treasures 
in the neighbourhood of my early home ; so gladly will I 
accompany you in some of my rambles, and well assured 
am I that they need not be barren of objects of interest. 
For Wallington is a favoured spot, from the circumstance 
of its combining the varieties of chalk, sand, and marshy 
ground in the soil of its vicinity. As a proof that the Flora 
is by no means meagre, I may tell you, that a lady in the 
neighbourhood made a collection, in a few days, of no fewer 
than 100 British plants ; and were the collection extended 
over all the months of the year, many more might be added 
to that number. 

But now, perhaps, the pleasantest way of proceeding 
would be to sketch out one or two walks, and to indicate 
some lovely, or rare, or curious plants, which you may find 
in each direction. 

First then, suppose you start along the high road from 
Wallington, passing the Beddington National Schools, 
turning to the left to the fine old Parish Church, behind 
which stands the baronial Mansion of the Carew family — 
now occupied as a Female Orphan Asylum. You must go 
and see that one day, but must not stop now, except to 
gather from the picturesque, low, broad churchyard wall, 
the curious little Pellitory of the wall, Parietaria officinalis, 



BOTANICAL WALKS. 95 

tlie filf^ments of which, as they advance to maturity, nncoil 
with considerable elastic force. Diverging to the right as 
soon as you have passed the Church, a fine avenue will 
bring you to the high road ; and it is worth the detour, 
though it lengthens the walk a little, because there, among 
the little turfy hillocks of the field, on the left of the avenue, 
may be found the ever welcome and duly prized sweet violet. 
Many a handful have I gathered there, prized even above 
their rich garden sisters, just because they were wild ; and 
I have a pleasant recollection, as unfading as the sweet 
scent of those flowers, of a bright-eyed, shy, little village 
boy, who used to meet me daily, and thrust a little nosegay 
of them into my hand, and then run off almost before I 
could thank him. There too, and even in the very dusty, 
hard road, you may find, in the early spring, tightly curled 
up into a whitish green pipe, the first leaves of the '' Lords 
and Ladies " — the arum maculatum — -forcing their way with 
that marvellous strength of life which overcom.es every 
impediment in the young plant's search for light. Is not 
" coming to light" a sure sign of life? I need hardly re- 
mind you, that this green- sheathed '^ lady," the great delight 
of village children — though its unpleasant smell makes it 
unwelcome to many — is closely allied with the Arum, from 
which arrowroot is manufactured. Its root is said to possess^ 
nutritious properties ; and there is a tradition that it waa 
ground and boiled for food, at one season of scarcity in 
England. The sand-pit bank is gay in spring with the- 
delicate little Stellaria Holostia, with its needle-leaves ;. 
bright with the gay Veronica chamoedrys, the Germander 
Speedwell— ?20^, as sometimes called, the Forget- me-noto. 
Of this lovely family (for though they vary very much in. 



96 BOTANICAL WALKS. 

size and form, tliey are all very beautiful) there may be 
found a curious little species, growing on tbe garden wall, 
on the left hand side of the high road leading to Waddon ; 
it has some flowerets of sulphur-colored, or yellow blossoms, 
all very minute, and finally changing to blue as they shrivel 
and fade. On the same wall, and still more abundantly on 
garden walls at Waddon, may be found the delicate little 
Draha Verna, rearing its fragile stem out of its star of 
green root leaves, and bearing its small crown of seed-pearl 
flowers. Turn now to the left, till you come in face of the 
Waddon flour mills ; another little digression — this time to 
the right, a little way up a pretty lane — ^will be amply 
repaid, by bringing you to a fine habitat of the Butter-bur, 
Pitasites vulgaris, a very injurious weed in moist meadows ; 
but very handsome, notwithstanding, are its early flesh- 
coloured flowers, growing in the form called a '' thyrsus," 
and appearing like pinkish plumes, along the margin of 
the Wandle. The leaves are roundish, heart-shaped, and 
covered with a white down underneath; they attain an 
enormous size, whence the name (Petasos, Greek) — a cover- 
ing to the head, or umbrella, and do not appear till after 
the flowers. This spot is famous in the neighbourhood for 
the abundant growth of the unrivalled large blue Forget- 
me-not ; the very stream seems to have caught the hue of 
the sky, so covered is it by that lovely weed. It will please 
your young companions to gather a large quantity, and 
fastening the heads of the flowers to a slight wire ring, in 
the form of a wreath, lay it in a saucer of water ; it will 
keep in fresh beauty for weeks. When satisfied with the 
beauties of these water, or marsh flowers (and if time per- 
mitted, much of interest might be found in the true water 



BOTANICAL WALKS. 97 

plants that thrive in the running' stream — the Lemnas and 
the Potomagetons, with their worlds of animalcnlse clothing 
their leaves, and affording infinite amusement and instruc- 
tion as seen under the microscope) ; but when, I say, you 
can turn away from these attractions, proceed by the river's 
side towards Beddington, on your return homewards. 
Along the shady parts of the path you may find abundance 
of the tiny pinkish- white Enchanter's IN'ightshade, Circcea 
Liitetiana, which has nothing in common with the Deadly 
Nightshade, Solanum Dulcamara, except the trivial name, 
though it may be very probably growing in closer proximity 
to it. 

Passing over •' Brandy-bottle Hill," on your right between 
the path and the river, you must venture to disregard the 
awful warning against trespassers, if you would find the 
rare and pretty little Fern, BotrycMum Lunaria, the common 
Moonwort, one of the so-called flowering ferns, because the 
fructification is on one frond, and almost covers it, while 
the other frond is barren. The branched cluster of capsules 
resembles a bunch of grapes, while the pinnae of the usually 
solitary barren frond are moon- shaped. Ferns are not very 
abundant at Wallington, and in that neighbourhood, which 
makes this singular little Fern the more to be prized. I 
have seen the Biita-muraria, the Wall Rue, on a high brick 
wall (out of reach), and the Hart's Tongue, at Wallington; 
but these are the only Ferns I remember in this locality, 
with the exception, of course, of the common Brake. 

Not far from the habitat of the Botrychium Lunaria, you 
may come upon the pure white Saxifraga granulataj with 
its kidney-shaped obtusely-lobed, long-stalked, radical leaves, 
whilst those of the upper part of the stem are nearly sessile 

H 



98 BOTANICAL WALKS. 

and acutely-lobed. But the principal characteristic of the 
plant is the existence of nnmerous small clustered tubers 
underground, like grains, whence its name. The river 
Wandle is seen here at its loveliest — so sparkling, and clear 
and rapid. I forgot to mention, but you will scarcely omit 
to notice the queen of British flowers-^-the pure white water 
lily, basking in the sunshine, and supported on her broad 
green rafts of leaves, at the bridge, near the mill. But as 
you reach the end of Beddington Lane, and begin leaving 
it on your right, to wind round up Chat's Hill, towards the 
Post Office, you may observe a veritable " cloth of gold " 
spread by the rich broad blossoms of the Marsh Marygold, 
the Caltlia palustris. It grows in the mud, and therefore 
defies lady admirers ; but only persuade a little urchin to 
tuck up his trousers, and bring you a handful, and then 
place them in a vase of water, and your drawing-room will 
look gorgeous in their golden splendour. As you now 
hasten homewards, one modest little flower may attract your 
notice ; it is the Sisymbrium Irio — Broad Hedge Mustard, 
with peculiar delicately- tinted yellow flowers, and long 
erect pods. It is said to have covered the ground after the 
great fire of London, 1666. You will find plenty of occu- 
pation in examining your collection ; and if you intend to 
make a Hortus Siccus, let me advise you to place your 
specimens between sheets of writing paper, and not blotting 
paper, as this method preserves the colours much better. 

J. L. 



WALK SECOND. 
Coming from the moors and uplands of Somersetshire — 
so rich in a brilliant and delicate flora, to the neighbour- 



BOTANICAL WALKS. 99 

hood of Wallington, one is inclined to think it is entirely 
barren of interesting wild plants ; but a few walks, with 
botany as one's object, qnite undeceives one. So if you will 
set forth some August evening, on what (with a very slight 
digression) will be a Wallington loalh, you will be able to 
cull a bouquet, fit for any lady's drawing-room. 

Starting from Wallington Green, take a few steps along 
the Beddington road, an opening in the hedge discloses a 
new road — Harcourt Road, bordered on the right by a row 
of unfinished villas, and on the left by the grounds of a 
nurseryman. ^"Naught here," you will say, ^' for my 
bouquet." But stay. What see we here, spreading its 
slender little branches, with its beautiful whorls of leaves, 
and lovely clusters of lilac flowers, over the very stones of 
the half-made road? Why, a splendid specimen of the 
Field Madder, Slier ardia arvensis. Pluck a specimen, and 
pass on to the end of the villas ; thence onwards, on what 
some would declare to be a Roman Causeway, parallel with 
the " Hollow- Way." Here, right and left, your path is gay 
with the untidy-looking Chicory, or Succory — GicJiorium 
intyhus, whose inelegant appearance is compensated by its 
lovely blue, star-like flowers, and from the fact of their 
opening at eight o'clock a.m., and closing at four p.m., the 
plant has gained the appellative, ^' poor man's clock." It 
is closely allied to the beautiful spring salad Endive, and the 
Succory itself is largely eaten by the Egyptians. From 
the root is obtained the Chicory, so much used to adulterate 
cofiee. But look, on your right, at the flaunting purple 
blossoms of the Corn Cockle — Agrostemr\ia githago, aptly 
called the ^^ Crown of the Field," well loved by the botanist 
but not by the farmer ; its black, shining seeds being specially 
H 2 LofC. 



100 BOTANICAL WALKS. 

detested by him. A little further on, yoii come upon the 
curious Blue Flea-bane — Erigeron acris, with its clusters of 
flowers of yellow centres and dusky purplish rays ; in a 
week or so, its little feathery seeds will look like branches 
of tawny down. Close to this you can pluck the pure white 
Campion — Lychnis vespertina, which, as it is evening, will 
charm you with its fragrance : hence its name. I^or must 
we pass these particularly-large blossoms of the Dove's-foot 
Crane's-bill, Geranium molle, tiny even here, but mark its 
almost circular, many-lobed leaves ; and then hasten onwards 
towards the Railway bridge, diverge to the left, and leaving 
Cathcart Road on your right, cross the open waste piece of 
ground. Here, in the earlier part of the year, I have found 
the curious Bird's-nest Orchis, Listeria nidus-avis, pushing its 
head of brown up through the chalk. Pass on to the high 
road to Croydon, past the Windmill Field. But stay a 
moment, to pluck from this weedy place on the right, a 
blossom of the Corn Spurrey, Spergula arvensis, with its 
strange thread-like bunches of leaves and pretty white 
flower. 

And now we must leave the parish of Wallington, and 
keep the road, until we reach the new temporary Church of 
Bandon Hill, turn to the right, along a road, brilliant with 
the rich purple blossoms and tri-coloured clusters of berries 
of the Solanum Dulcamara, at the end we arrive at ^' Goose 
Green ;" and here we find a greater favourite, the beautiful 
Harebell — Campanula Rotundifolia — the ^' Blue-bell of Scot- 
land," waving its lovely bells in the breeze. On turning 
sharply to the right, we re-enter Wallington, and are 
greeted with the gaudy yellow Goat's-beard — Tragopogon 
pratensis. Wait a week or so, and then look for its seed. 



BOTANICAL WALKS. 101 

But here is one, not just like the Dandelion clocks we used 
to love to puff, but each white seed has a stalk of its own, 
round which are set its delicate little hairs, like tiny para- 
sols, shorn of their coverings. And here, too, aspiring even 
to the lower branches of the sturdy oak, clasping the 
smoother stem of the chesnut, and twining in saucy glee 
with the aromatic fir-tree, we see the Traveller's Joy — 
Clematis vitalha, throwing out its long tendrils of white 
tufty flowers, which soon will turn to what will look like 
feathery down. 

Our bouquet, however, will not be complete without some 
sprays of the Yellow Bedstraw — Galium Verum, whose 
feathery blossoms garnish it beautifully, and whose root 
yields a dye equal, if not superior, to madder, only it is too 
small to admit of its adaptation. Now, as we are almost 
close to the rose-covered station of Wallington, you may 
think our gatherings are at an end. But no. Almost side 
by side we find some splendid specimens of the Small 
Scabious — Scahiosa Columbaria^ and Field Knautia — 
Knautia arvensis. Pluck some of the largest blossoms. 
Survey your nosegay ; and now will you say that Walling- 
ton is barren of interesting wild plants ? 

L. C. B. 



WALK THIRD. 

If prepared for another walk, we will start this bright 
August morn from Wallington, and taking our path through 
the village of Carshalton, past the Church, the beautiful 
ponds and Anne Boleyn's well, and leaving Carshalton 
House on our right, press onwards to the top of Park Hill. 



102 BOTANICAL WALKS. 

Here we take the least frequented road on the right hand 
side, close to the large chalk-pit ; on either side it is fringed 
by many specimens of the Parsley tribe. But hasten 
onwards to the railway arch ; just mount the bank on the 
left side, and examine the field just cleared of corn, you will 
find the trailing, little branches, with the round downy 
leaves and lovely yellow purple-tipped blossoms of the round- 
leaved Muellen — Linaria spuria, a diminutive plant, but 
most interesting, and not very common. Pass under the 
arch, climb the fence on the right, and scramble along the 
embankment of the Epsom and Dorking line. Here, half 
way up, you see the lovely rose-coloured blossoms of the 
Rose-bay Willow Herb^ — Ejpilohium aiigustifolium. The plant 
itself is stunted, but its blossoms are as rich in colour as 
those of the largest specimen. Close by, we find the square- 
stalked Willow Herb — Epilohium tetragonum, with flowers 
of a paler colour, and considerably smaller than its neigh- 
bour, but nevertheless peculiar, for the distinct angles of its 
stem, and the great length of its pod-like vessels. 

Retracing our steps to the road, we pass onwards towards 
the Barrow-Hedges Farm, and again we must put ourselves 
in danger of being thought unfeminine, for in the rough 
piece of grazing land on the left, we spy some of the rich 
crimson heads of the Saint Foin — Onobrychis sativa, which, 
though sometimes cultivated, nevertheless may be numbered 
among our wild plants. Returning to the road, we find, on 
our right, the Fumitory — Fumaria officinalis, with the rich 
purplish crimson flowers, and delicate, much divided leaves. 

But pass onwards, the road on either side being a perfect 
galaxy of beauties, and the air perfumed with the scents of 
the Wild Thyme and Marjoram ; but the dense, yellow 



BOTANICAL WALKS. 103 

heads of the sulphur- colonred Trefoil — Trifolium ocliroleu- 
crum, will be sure to attract special notice ; and also the fine 
blossoms of its near neighbour, the Bird's-foot Trefoil — 
Lotus Gornicnlatits — -"the shoes and stockings" of child- 
hood's days; while, at our feet, find the Rest Harrow — 
Ononis arvensis, with its rose-coloured pea-shaped blossoms. 
But search the bank more closely, and you see the sweet 
little blossoms of the Eyebright — Euphrasia officinalis. 
Here it is rather small, but on the Epsom Downs it is par- 
ticularly large and plentiful. Its often neighbour, the 
Cathartic Flax — Linum catharticum, and here also we find 
it ; — has blossoms of the purest white, and like little vases 
in shape, but very tiny, the whole plant being scarcely six 
inches in height. We have now reached the back of 
Barrow-Hedges (so named from the ancient *^^ barrows," 
mentioned by antiquaries as being on this rising ground), 
and if you are not inclined to trespass and make a path at 
right angles with your present road across the fields to 
Woodcote, you must retrace your steps as far as the farm, 
as no other road presents itself, turning sharply to the 
right, climb the rising ground till you reach the Beech 
Tree Walk. Leave this road, and pursue your way past a 
group of new houses, and sinking into the hollow, turn 
abruptly to the right, along side of the Woodcote grounds, 
generally supposed to have been the site of a British or 
Boman city. An unfrequented road, bordering the wood, 
gives us many floral treasures, already mentioned ; and, in 
addition, we find the Perforated St. John's Wort — Hypericum 
perforatum; the Common Purple Trefoil — Trifolium pra- 
tense; and the Discoid Knapweed — Centaur ea nigra. This 
path will bring us as far as Mr. Arnott's farm, whence we 
can return to Wallington by the high road. L. C. B. 



104 



BOTANICAL WALKS. 



"THE BEST COLLECTION OF WILD FLOWERS (93) 

FOUND IN THE MONTH OF AUGUST, 1872, IN THE 

NEIGHBOURHOOD OF WALLINGTON ;" 

For which was awarded, as a prize, a copy of " My Garden," by 

A. Smee, Esq., on the auspicious occasion of the Marriage of his 

daughter, 20th August, 1872. 



1. 


Senecio Jacohea 


Common Yellow Ragwort 


2. 


,, Vulgaris 


Common Groundsel. 


3. 


AcJiillcea millefolium 


Yarrow. 


4. 


Urtica dioica 


Stinging Nettle. 


5. 


Lamium album 


White dead Nettle. 


6. 


„ jpurpureum 


Red dead Nettle. 


7. 


Galeopsis Tetrahit 


Common Hemp Nettle. 


8. 


Euphorbia Helioscopia 


Sun Spurge. 


9. 


Exigua 


Dwarf Spurge. 


10. 


Beseda Luteola 


Rocket. 


11. 


Solarium Didcamara 


Woody Nightshade. 


12. 


„ Nigrum 


Common Nightshade. 


13. 


Camjpanula Botundifolia 


Harebell. 


14. 


Agrostemma Githago 


Corn Cockle. 


15. 


Papaver Bhoeas 


Red Poppy. 


16. 


Anagallis arvensis 


Red Pimpernel. 


17. 


Convolvulus arvensis 


Small Convolvulus. 


18. 


„ Sepium 


Major Convolvulus. 


19. 


Thymus Serpyllnm 


Wild Thyme. 


20. 


Origanum vulgare 


Marjoram. 


21. 


Bartsia Odontitus 


Red Bartsia. 


22. 


Linaria vidgaris 


Yellow Toad-flax. 


23. 


„ spuria 


Round-leaved Fluellen, 


24. 


Eupato r ia ag rim on ia 


Agrimony. 



BOTANICAL WALKS. 



105 



I 



25. Hieracium Umhellatum 

26. Antirrhinum 

27. Artemisia vulgaris 

28. Silene inflata 

29. Arenaria serpyllifolia 

30. ,, tenufolia 

31. Eubus Fructicosus 

32. Potentilla Eeptans 

33. Potentilla Anserina 

34. Xo^MS Corinculatus 

35. Trifolium ochroleucum 

36. „ repens 

37. Cichorum Intybus 

38. G^6!(m urhanum 

39. Malva Sylvestris 

40. ,, rotundifolia 

41. Sinapis arvensis 

42. Salvia Verhenacea 

43. Knautia arvensis 

44. Galium Verum 

45. „ Mollugo 

46. ,, Aparine 

47. Sherardia arvenis 

48. Ejpilobium augustifolium 

49. ,, tetragonum 

50. Anthemis nohilis 

51. Verbena officinalis 

52. Clematis Vitalba 

53. Tragopogon pratensis 

54. Thalspi-bursa pastoris 

55. Potentilla Tormentilla 



Hawkweed. 

Snapdragon. 

Wormwood. 

Bladder Campion. 

Thyme-leaved Sandwort. 

Fine-leaved Sandwort. 

Bramble. 

Creeping Cinquefoil. 

Silverweed. 

Bird's-foot Trefoil. 

Sulphur -coloured Trefoil. 

Dutch Clover. 

Succory. 

Herb Bennet. 

Common Mallow. 

Dwarf Mallow. 

Charlock. 

Wild Sage. 

Field Knautia. 

Yellow Bedstraw. 

Great Hedge Bedstraw. 

Cleavers. 

Blue Field Madder. 

Bose-bay Willow Herb. 

Square- stalked Willow Herb. 

Camomile. 

Vervain. 

Traveller's Joy. 

Yellow Goat's-beard, 

Shepherd's Purse. 

Tormentil. 



10(j 


► BOTANICAL WALKS. 


56. 


Ulex Europoeus 


Furze. 


57. 


Geranium Bohertianmn 


Herb Robert. 


58. 


„ molle 


Dove's-foot Crane's-bill. 


59. 


„ pyrenaicum 


Mountain Crane's-bill. 


60. 


Hypericum pulcTirum 


St. John's Wort. 


61. 


OnohrycJiis Sativa 


Saint Foin. 


62. 


Bellis perennis 


Daisy. 


63. 


Arctium Lappa 


Burdock. 


64. 


Erica vulgaris 


Common Ling. 


65, 


„ cineria 


Fine-leaved Heath. 


6Q, 


Solidago virgaurea 


Common Golden Rod. 


67. 


Centaur ea Jacca 


Brown-rayed Knapweed, 


68. 


„ nigra 


Discoid Knapweed. 


69. 


Ulicehrum verticillatum 


Whorled Knot Grass. 


70. 


Bunex 


Dock. 


71. 


Ghrysanthemnm Leucanthemum Great White Ox eye. 


72. 


Banunculus Hirsatus 


Pale Buttercup. 


73. 


Barharea vulgaris 


Bitter Cress. 


74. 


Sisymbrium officinale 


Common Hedge Mustard. 


75. 


Gincus Palustris 


Marsh Thistle. 


76. 


„ acantJioides 


Welted Thistle. 


77. 


Tanacetum vulgare 


Common Tansy. 


78. 


Erigeron acris 


Blue Flea-bane. 


79. 


Pulicaria Bysenteria 


Common Flea-bane. 


80. 


Ononis arvensis 


Common Rest Harrow. 


81. 


Ligusticum-scoticum 


Lovage. 


82. 


Fumaria officinalis 


Common Fumitory. 


83. 


Myosotis palustris 


Forget-me-not. 


84. 


„ arvensis 


Common Field Scorpion Grass 


85. 


Erythrcea Gentaurium 


Centaury, 


86. 


Leontodon Taraxacum. 


Common Dandelion. 



BOTANICAL WALKS. 



107 



87. Polygonum Persicaria Spotted Persicaria. 

88. Stachys Sylvestris Wound Wort. 

89. Vicia cracca Tufted Vetcli. 

90. Chenepodium Bonus Henricus Goosefoot. 

91. Lapsana communis Nipple Wort. 

92. SoncJius oleraceus Common Sow Thistle. 

93. Trifolium medium Zigzag Trefoil. 



THE FOLLOWING ALSO ARE FOUND IN 
THE NEIGHBOURHOOD. 



1. Euphrasia officinalis 

2. Viola Tricolor 

3. Spergida arvensis 

4. Nasturtium officinale 

5. Veronica Beccabunga 

6. Ly thrum Salicara 

7. Helianthemum Vulgare 

8. Polygonum Lajpathifolium 

9. Foeniculum vulgare 

10. Linaria Cymhalaria 

11. Chelidonium majus 

12. Lychnis vespertina 

13. Hieracium umhellatum 

14. Scahiosa Columbaria 

15. Linum Cartharticum 

16. Veronica serjpyllifolia 

17. Sisymbrium Irio 



Eyebright. 
Heartease. 
Corn Spurrey. 
Watercress. 
Brooklime. 

Spiked Purple Loose Strife. 
Common Rock Rose. 
Pale- coloured Persicaria 
Fennel. 

Ivy-leaved Toad-flax. 
Common celandine. 
White Campion. 
Narrow-leaved Hawk weed.. 
Small Scabious 
Cathartic Flax. 
Thyme-leaved Speedwell. 
(London Rocket) Broad Hedge 
Mustard. 



108 



BOTANICAL WALKS. 



18. EcMum vulgare 

19. Scrojphularia Aquatica 

20. Flantago Lanceolata 

21. HyacintJius-non-scrijQtus 

22. Iris Pseud-acorus 

23. Polygonum convolvulus 

24. Tussilago Farfara 

25. Anthemis Gotula 

26. Vinca minor 

27. Byronia Dioica 

28. Primus Spinosa 

29. Dipsacus sylvestris 

30. Primula veris 

31. Gerastium viscosum 



Common Viper's Bugloss 

Water Figwort. 

Ribwort Plantain. 

Blue-bell. 

Yellow Iris. 

Climbing Persicaria. 

Colt's-foot. 

Stinking Camomile. 

Lesser Periwinkle. 

White Bryony. 

Sloe. 

Wild Teazel. 

Cowslip. 

Viscid Mouse-ear Chickweed. 

L. C. B. 



APPENDIX 



TO 



HISTOEICAL KOTES. 



APPENDIX A. 



We are enabled to supply some highly interesting "Notes" on the 
site of Noeomagus, by C. W. Standidge, Esq., referring to the statements 
of ancient authors. 

He, first of all, takes the figures from Horsley's " Brittannia Eomana" 
(a.d. 1732), a book of very high repute ; in which the English portion 
of Ptolemy's Geography is translated. Ptolemy gives 

London as in long. 20 deg. 00 min. W., and lat. 53 deg. 00 min. N. 
Nceomagus „ 19 „ 45 ,, W., „ 53 „ 25 „ N. 
Venta „ 18 „ 40' „ W., „ 53 „ 30 „ N. 

Without entering into the somewhat dijfficult question of the methods by 
which Ptolemy computed his latitude and longitude, we may fairly 
assume his degree of longitude was 35 to 40 miles ; and his degree of 
latitude about 60, in the present case. Then 

I. Yenta (which is unquestionably Winchester) and Nceomagus, 
lie, west of London, in the proportion of 1' 20" to 15", i.e., of 80 — 15. 

Winchester is 53 miles west of London — then Noeomagus is 15-80ths. 
of 53 miles ; or very nearly 10 miles. 

II. Venta is 30" south of London, and Noeomagus 25" — then these two 
places would lie south of London in the proportion of 30 — 25. 

Winchester is 31 miles south of London — then Noeomagusis 25-30ths. 
of 31 miles south of London. To place Noeomagus, according to 
Ptolemy's view, we must find some place which lies 10 miles W. and 
25ni. 5-6ths. S. of London — meaning, of course, the centre of the old 
Roman city, which we should fix about Watling Street. And the only 
place answering to this description is a spot between Capel, in Surrey, 
and Eusher, in Sussex. Now, this point just hits off the Stane Street 
(p. 6), and the locality of ANSTIEBUEY Camp exactly answers. 



APPENDIX. Ill 

Again. Ptolemy makes Noeomagus the chief town of the " Eegni." 
the people of Surrey and Sussex, " to the south of the Atrebatii and 
Cantii " — the former people extending from Berkshire, S. of the Thames, 
till they touched the W. border of the Cantii (Kent). If Noeomagus 
was at Woodcote, the Eegni must have had their principal town in a bad 
position for defence ; which is possible, though not likely. As far as 
Ptolemy is concerned, his Nceomagus certainly points to Anstiebury. 
But in all probability he was never in Britain ; and so his information, 
obtained through others,, as to the astronomical position of places, in 
themselves very obscure, may not be perfectly reliable. 

Therefore Mr. Standidge gives *' much greater value to the more 
practical figures contained in * Itinerary of Antoninus.' " (p 4.) He 
then lays down as a " universally admitted fact," that "Durobrivis" is 
Eochester. The distance thence to London, by Coach-road, was, in 
Horsley's time, 29f miles, measured probably from the Standard, in 
Cornhill, from whence the old mile stones, S. of London, were generally- 
reckoned (the spot would be nearly opposite the shop of Messrs. Silver) ; 
and this Coach road would probably have followed the old Eoman road,, 
in a great measure. Dr. W. Smith, in his Dictionary of Greek and 
Eoman Antiquities, gives two independent calculations of the Eoman 
mile, which result, one 1,614 and the other in 1,618 yards, as its lenglM. 
Taking 1,616 yards, as the mean of the two reckonings, we find that tHe 
distance from London to Eochester, by the " Antonine route," to be 37 
" Eoman " miles, and this distance is just under 34 English statute miles 
of 1,760 yards each. Now, the distance from Wallington to Eochester, 
as the crow would fly, is at least 28 statute miles ; while that from- 
Wallington to the nearest part of Eoman London (say Queenhithe) 
exceeds 10 miles. If, therefore, Noviomagus be at Wallington, we must 
suppose that a distance, which when measured on the map is from 38 ta< 
40 miles, would be traversed by road in 34 miles, the crossing of the^ 
Thames being, perhaps, included in the reckoning. 

The difl&culty is still further increased^ if we agree with the majority 
of critics, that " Yagniacis" is Northfleet, which lies three or four miles^ 
to the north of the straight line between Wallington and Eochester. It 
is only necessary to look at a good map, and see how utterly improbable- 
it is that a practical race like the Eomans would take the route to^ 



112 APPENDIX. 

Eochester by Wallington. It is indeed probable that there were marsliea 
on the S. of the Thames, impassable in winter, that would make it 
necessary to push back the road to avoid them. But if this were done 
to the line of Blackheath and Eltham, there would only be the small 
stream of the Ravensbourne to bridge over — a very small matter to a 
people who had bridged the Ehine and the Danube. And even if they 
kept to the firm ground, they need go no further out of their way than 
just to the south of the source of the Ravensbourne, altogether a distance 
somewhere under 31 miles in a straight line — equivalent to 34 miles of 
Koman road. 

On the basis of the Itinerary of Antoninus, it is probable that Novio- 
magus is to be found at HOLWOOD HILL, in the parish of Keston, 
near Bromley, Kent, where are remains of a Roman Camp. This view 
is somewhat strengthened by Richard of Cirencester, the mediaeval 
authority on early British topography — who wrote a.d. 1350-1400 — but 
who evidently had access to old materials. He gives the route from 
Anderida (Pevensey) to London, as passing through Noviomago, which 
points decidedly to Hoi wood Hill, and his road from Chichester to 
London is by Winchester and Staines ; a fact which seems to suggest that 
the *' Stane Street" was constructed in the later days of the Roman 
occupation of Britain. 

Mr. Standidge adds, that he is inclined to believe that Woodcote was 
on, or close to, the Stane Street, which was probably (?) constructed after 
the date of the Itinerary (Antonine), but before the withdrawal of the 
Romans from Britain, early in the fifth century. Woodcote is in the 
right line and about the right distance from London for the first stage 
out. It was probably not a military station — partly because it is a weak 
position ; and partly because of the later date of the Stane Street, when 
a fortified camp would be unnecessary, the country being quite peaceful. 
What one would expect to find in such a situation would be the remains 
of Roman Villas, and Roadways, and Coins, mostly dating from Caracalla 
downwards. 

Thus Mr. Standidge had written — previous to any knowledge that a 
Roman Villa had been discovered ; and many Roman Coins also ; in our 
neighbourhood. And so we will add a few remarks on these traces of 
Roman occupation. 



APPENDIX. 113 

APPEISTDIX B. 



First — the COINS. We have only one of earlier date than Caracalla 
— that found in the field adjoining the Eoman Villa — a coin of 
COMMODUS, Emperor from a.d. 176 to 192. It was a troublous time 
in Britain — with the warlike tribes of Picfcs and Scots in the North, and 
a mutinous spirit among the Roman troops. It was shortly after the 
death of Commodus that the Praetorian bands put up the Empire for sale 
to the highest bidder. Then the Eoman army in Britain elected Severus 
Emperor. He took a very active interest in the afi'airs of Britain. The 
wall of Severus is one evidence of this. He died at York, a.d. 211, and 
his son Caracalla succeeded him ; but he soon left for Eome. One effect 
of Caracalla' s administration has been mentioned in his giving the rights 
of Eoman citizenship to all the provinces of the Empire. Then we 
have in our Village Museum a coin of GALLIENUS (a.d. 263), on 
which is clearly distinguished the ancient silvering of the brass, when 
the coinage was debased. He fell before the walls of Milan, and by his 
dying wish, CLAUDIAN was raised to the throne. A coin of his was 
found near the Villa. During this period there sprung up pretenders to 
the throne, in every province — they have been termed the "thirty 
tyrants." We have a coin of one, POSTHUMUS, struck in Gaul. 
Another coin tells of AUEELIAN, a.d. 270. He recovered Britain from 
Tetricus, another of the thirty. Probus (p. 9) displayed much activity 
in settling the affairs of the northern provinces of the Empire ; and 
recruiting the army, largely among the German nations, settled foreign 
colonists in various parts. He perished in a mutiny of his troops. 
Diocletian became Emperor in 284. His reign was noted for a violent 
persecution (the tenth) of the Christians throughout the Empire. Au- 
relian had been arrested in the same career, while in the act of signing 
an edict against the Christians, by a thunderbolt falling at his feet. 
Alban, the first British martyr, suffered 22nd June, a.d. 286. This was 
the period of CAEAUSIUS and ALLECTUS (p. 11), of whom coins 
were found at the Villa. The Eoman Commander in Britain was 
Constantius Chlorus, father of CONSTANTINE THE GEEAT. Of this 
Emperor we have three coins found hereabouts. A coin of CONSTANS, 
I 



114 APPENDIX. 

his son, was also found near the Villa. And in our Museum is a coin of 
his nephew, DELMASIUS. Then we have a coin of JULIAN, a great 
nephew, who apostatized from the Christian religion. His attempt to 
rebuild Jerusalem, hoping so to prove the fallacy of the prophetical 
Scriptures, is well known ; and the horrible balls of fire breaking out 
near the foundations and '* rendering the place inacessible to the work- 
men, who were scorched and blasted if they approached." In his reign, 
the Picts and Scots, breaking through the wall of Severus, killed a 
Roman general and the Count of the Saxon Shore ; while in the reign 
of Valentinian (a.d. 367) they pillaged London, and carried off many of 
its inhabitants as slaves. The coin we have of VALENTINIAN is 
interesting. It displays on its reverse ; not as of old, the Roman soldier 
with a trophy in one hand, and in the other, a standard, the superscription 
being, " Victus exercitu Romanorum" — conquered by the army of the 
Romans ; but the soldier here, with the Labarum (p. 68) in one hand, is 
with the other raising a suppliant, and the superscription is ' ' Gloria 
Romanorum " — the glory of the Romans. One more Roman coin we 
have, of GRATIAN. He had an opposing claimant in the Briton, 
Maximus, whose ambition carried off in his army, to Gaul, a multitude 
of the British youth, who either fell in battle, or from other causes never 
returned home. Maximus was conquered by Theodosius, the last who 
ruled over the whole Roman Empire, and died at Milan, a.d. 395. 

As to any deficiency of coins of an earlier date than those above 
mentioned ? we may state that " these are of the type usually found in 
England." (As Mr. Poole writes.) 

But still, are we expected to answer the question, " Where was 
NCEOMAGUS, or Noviomagus ? We answer then, that we are of opinion, 
with the majority, that it was AT OR NEAR TO WALLINGTON. 
Ptolemy's latitude and longitude it is difficult to accommodate. But we 
may note that Anstiebury and Wallington are not so far apart from each 
other ON the road from the south to London ; but that we may infer 
the information of Ptolemy, being incorrect, has given us by mistake 
that of the Roman Camp instead of the British City. Then turning 
to the Antonine Itinerary, we have to observe that Wallington Green is 
only 10 English statute miles from London Bridge. If we take Richard 
of Cirencester's XV Roman miles from the centre of old Roman London ; 



APPENDIX. 115 

that reckoning would laud us just at Woodcote (p. 10). And then as 
to the distance from Woodcote to Kochester, if it be 28 English miles, 
and the total distance from London, by Noviomagus, to Rochester, was 
37 Roman miles, we have only the difference between what would be the 
difference of "hearsay," (on which the Antonine Itinerary is mainly 
founded! as well as Ptolemy's account), and "positive" evidence. It is 
quite clear Noviomagus was considered out of the direct route. Manning 
makes a curious suggestion, that HOLWOOD HILL was the WOOD IN 
KENT, described in Domesday (p. 14). We are not willing that a 
Roman Camp should be necessarily the site of a British City. But 
we fall back on the evidences of Roman occupation hereabouts, and ask 
how came this site to be so occupied ? and the answer may fairly be. 
It was so, after the transference of the Capital of the Regni under 
Cogidumus, to Chichester, on account of its previous British 
OCCUPATION. But to reconcile the differences of position and distances 
given, and to correct the Texts and force agreement, is beyond the ability 
of our "Notes." We can only, at the worst, consider ourselves in the 
same category as Holms Dale, partly in Surrey and partly in Kent — the 
scene of many indecisive contests between Saxon and Dane ; of which 
the proverb ran — 

"The vale of Holms Dale 
Was never won, ne never shall." 



APPENDIX C. 



THE ROMAN BUILDING DISCOVERED APRIL, 1871. 



A farm of about 170 acres, part of the Park Farm, at Beddington, is 
irrigated by the sewage of Croydon. To extend the system of irrigation 
there, it was necessary to have some additional trenches cut for dispersing 
the sewage water; and thus were brought to view some remains of 
" walls, undoubtedly part of a Roman building." (We quote from Mr. 
E. P. Loftus Brock's Paper, read at a Meeting of the British Archaeo- 
logical Association, by whose courtesy we are allowed to copy his plan of 
the building.) 



116 APPENDIX. 

" The large chamber ('' Ist chamber ") is 16 feet 5 inches long by 
9 feet 11 inches. On the Northern side of this chamber and close to the 
West end, there is a semi-circular apse, leading from it, by an opening 
4 feet 4 inches wide carried down to the foundations. While the larger 
chamber is paved with flat tiles, many of which remain, yet the flooring 
of the apse has been at a higher level, and carried by a series of small 
piers formed of the same square tiles, and as if a " hypocaust," or at 
least a receptacle for hot air, had been beneath ; but no entrance 
remained. Hot air might have been brought into it from elsewhere by 
the flue tiles (of which many were found), but none of the fragments met 
with were in situ. The walling here, although beneath the level of the 
paving, was plastered internally, down to the foundations." 

A " 2nd chamber " was discovered, eastward of the larger one, on the 
Northern side. This is 7 feet 9 inches by 3 feet. No sign of entrance 
was visible, owing, doubtless, to the inconsiderable remaining height of 
the walls ; but the floor here also had been carried, on brick piers, to the 
higher level ; constructed, evidently, for a hypocaust — the usual addition 
to the comforts of a Eomaa Yilla. 

Eastward, and quite apart from the others, a separate detached build- 
ing was uncovered. This measures 11 feet by 6 feet 6 inches within the 
walls, and is paved with flat tiles, bedded on the well-known Roman 
concrete of hard mortar, formed with pounded red brick. No appear- 
ance of a doorway was found. 

Westward, from the first, large chamber, a small passage, 5 ft. 3 in. 
by 4 ft. 9 in., paved with tiles, was met with. There were paving tiles, 
appearing as though calcined. Mr. Addy suggests here was the fire of 
the hypocaust. This passage opened into a chamber (chamber 3rd") 
7 ft. 6 in. by 6 ft., having two recesses. At the angle of the first of 
these, and at about 1 ft. above the paving, a projecting rebate was 
formed in the wall by thick ribbed tiles to form a ledge, as if to receive 
the edge of the paving at the higher level, as before. We have thus 
four recesses on the North sides of the larger chambers, the paving of 
which must have been at a higher level, and with spaces beneath. 

The foundations also showed a fourth small chamber westward, 8ft. by 
3 ft., but with no sign of entrance. It may be concluded, therefore, 
that the pavement here was of a higher level, and approached, by a step 
or two, from that of the larger apartment. 



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APPENDIX. 117 

Two projecting masses on the South side may warrant the supposition 
that other apartments extended in this direction. 

Several fragments of hard plastering were met with, having broad 
bands of dull red on a white ground, and remarkably fresh in colour. 
Many fragments of pottery also were discovered, mostly of very coarse 
ware ; minute pieces of thin black ware, with small dots of a lighter 
colour ; and two fragments of Samian ware. One of these has a pattern 
indented from an ordinary cockle-shell, impressed when the clay was 
wet, and alternating with what appears to be the potter's monogram. 
No fragments of tesselated pavement were met with. The -flooring is of 
common red tiles, about 9 inches square, laid in mortar. 

Shortly after the discovery of the site of this building, a piece of 
Roman brick was noticed about a furlong to the S.E. ; and some excava- 
tion revealed the existence of a hard, concreted platform, about 20 feet 
square, and about a foot in thickness. This was composed entirely of 
large bricks, four inches thick, and pieces of coarse earthenware, of one 
inch in thickness, being portions of circular vessels of large size. No 
foundations of walls were met with. Had any such existed, they have 
been completely removed. (Could it have been a small *' threshing-floor," 
as seen in Italy at present day ? Or, since Mr. Addy mentions many 
fragments of large vessels or " amphorae " found here, would these betoken 
a wine-press site ? for many vines were grown in Britain.) 

The appearance of the remains warrants the supposition that the 
superstructures were taken down for the sake of the building materials, 
since but very few fallen fragments have been found. An urn, of a 
very rough description, was found in another part of the field ; and a 
considerable number of bones have been found in various directions. 
Other urns were met with — one of a thin black ware, with lighter 
stripings, A fine large circular cinerary urn was found in the field 
adjoining ; and another less perfect urn — possibly these are Anglo-Saxon ? 
— exhibited by Mr. Brock before the British Archaeological Association. 

The position of these remains affords another example of Eoman build- 
ings often erected in what are now considered most unpromising sites. 
The land is so low that is difficult to understand why this somewhat 
marshy position was selected for building, rather than the rising ground 
South of Beddington Church. 



118 APPENDIX. 

The walls have a remaining height of only about 18 inches from the 
level of the paving, while the ground level is about three feet above the 
paving. They are about 15 inches thick, average ; and are composed of 
flint rubble, with a plentiful admixture of the usual flat Roman bricks, 
and are plastered internally and externally. The site is about the third 
of a mile from Beddington Church, and almost exactly North-east. 

To this we may add that the sixth Vol. of the Surrey Archaeological 
Society gives a paper by Mr. Flower, on an Anglo-Saxon Cemetery in 
the same field with the Villa — " about 500 yards in a southerly direction." 
Several skeletons and sepulchral urns were found — one of them with 
markings much resembling those found on some British urns. It is 
presumed, from the urns filled with burnt hones, that this cemetery was 
commenced in pre-Christian times, and continued in use afterwards, as 
the skeletons would suggest. Spears and daggers were found in the 
graves, and the iron umbo of a shield, of the usual Anglo-Saxon form. 



We should add that recent alterations, at Wallington *' Manor House," 
have brought to light various stones, built into the walls of the more 
recent Mansion, confirming, by the style of carving on them, the date 
suggested (p. 58) as that of the Mansion to which the old /^awZ^ belonged. 
One stone has the chamfers and cusping of a Gothic square-headed 
window ; and others have the foliage which characterises the Norman 
or very Early English style. These relics, with portions of Roman 
bricks, suggest antiquarian researches in our Parish. 

March, 1873. 



E. L. CoEKEK, Printer, Whitgift Street, Croydon. 



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